Hello everyone and welcome back to Exemplar Highlights! You might be wondering to where exactly we have disappeared over the last few months. As many of you know, there was a Leadership Conference held in September that contained some good discussion and feedback for Exemplar Highlights. In particular, our focus on the author and recipient of each recognition was diluting the point and purpose of this column, which was to identify well-written Exemplar recognitions that judges could emulate. This article is intended to demonstrate what this looks like and what you can expect to see from this series going forward. I sincerely apologize for the extended silence and I hope this rediscovered vision leads us to great success!

Without further ado, here’s our first article getting back to our roots!

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Today’s Exemplar Highlight was inspired by the actions of James Hockman, a level 1 judge from Peoria, AZ. You may remember that Arizona very recently hosted the first Grand Prix Phoenix in a few years and that is quite relevant to this particular recognition. James, when noticing that many local judges would be attending this Grand Prix and that many of them had never been to a GP before, suggested to Krystal Rose that a meetup might be useful for these judges. The idea was that the more experienced judges could share their wisdom, tips, and tricks for surviving GPs with the newcomers and help make their first experience as positive as possible. Here’s what Krystal had to say about this idea:

“James, thank you for suggesting that we have a judge meetup to help local judges who have limited or no GP experience prepare for their opportunity to judge at GP Phoenix in the fall. It has been a few years since we had a local GP, and this is the best opportunity for AZ L1s to get a taste of competitive REL/large event experience. I am sure that this idea came out of selfish intentions, but the fact that you offered it as a suggestion for others to benefit from is awesome. I think that it is exemplary to inspire growth in others as well as yourself, and to share the ideas that can turn to action and get us there. Well done, and please keep sharing!”

Krystal was very specific about the event that inspired her recognition. Specificity is extremely important when writing Exemplar recognitions. Exemplars are not supposed to be for “general awesomeness” or “too many things to count.” They are for specific exemplary actions that we want other judges to see and recognize as being awesome. Krystal’s recognition of James does that very well. Not only that, but she goes into detail about why James’ suggestion was so good. This makes it clear to anyone reading the recognition what exactly was so exemplary about his actions. It gives us something to look for in future when we are looking to support the judges in our areas. With Krystal’s words, we can look for opportunities to, as she said, inspire growth in ourselves as well as our fellow judges.

Thank you for reading, and we hope to see you in two weeks!