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The Great Persona Challenge

The Challenge is to produce the following 3 items over the coming year:

  • A back story. Up to 2 sides of A4.
  • An accessory/item that you would have used or owned.
  • A document that relates in some way to your persona.
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    If you accept the challenge, you must pledge an item to go into a prize chest. The winner of each category (see below) will receive one item of their choosing from the chest and the overall winner will receive the chest and all remaining contents.

Current entrants and pledges are here.

To enter the competition, email one of the judges (Edward Braythewayte, arts@cluain.lochac.sca.org, or Katherina Weyssin).

Each item will be judged on the following criteria: (There will be no marks awarded for documentation directly. However, it is strongly recommended that you include some, up to 2 pages A4 per category, to provide supporting evidence for your entry)

  • Back story:                  Presentation  + Complexity/Effort
  • Accessory/Item:          Workmanship/Quality + Authenticity
  • Document:                  Complexity/Effort + Authenticity

Entries can be submitted at any of the main SCA events such as St Johns, Labour Weekend, St Caths and St Sebastians which will mark the close of the competition. However, you may only submit 1 entry per event (so you cannot do it all last minute!!). As usual, you do not need to attend an event to submit your entry. All entries MUST be at St Sebs 2015 for judging, even if they were submitted at an earlier event.


Bonus Points!

In order to level the playing field, your final score will be adjusted according to any A&S awards you may hold as follows as of April 2014:

  • Laurel:                 Sorry, no bonus points for you
  • Cockatrice:                 score + extra 10%
  • Star and Lily:              score + extra 15%
  • Guildsman:                 score + extra 20%
  • No A&S awards yet:    score + extra 25%


There will be 2 judges for this challenge: Master Edward Braythwayte and Mistress Katherina Weyssin


Guidelines:

Entry

You should make it known that you have accepted the challenge by declaring your intentions on either the Ildhafn or Cluain email lists or by emailing one of the judges and letting them know what item you would like to offer to the prize pool.

An up to date list of who has entered and pledges made is available on the website: http://ildhafn.lochac.sca.org/node/1012.

Pledges

These should be actual items rather than promissory notes and need to be handed to one of the judges by next St Sebastians. However, you will need to say what item you are offering to the prize pool when you accept the challenge.

Documentation

The marks awarded will be based solely on the criteria specified for each of the items. There will be no marks for documentation. However, it would be wise to include some supporting evidence so that the judges can give you credit for authenticity of materials, techniques and, in the case of the back story, events, customs and locations etc.

Please keep supporting documentation succinct. Preferably no more than 2 sides of A4 + references per category.

Back Story

Things you might include:

  • Your family and upbringing
  • Places you have lived, places you have been to
  • Your beliefs, political persuasions
  • Your ambitions
  • Major events in your life
  • Key figures in your life

Qualities that may help you score well in the "back-story" category:

  • a good read (i.e. well-written and interesting)
  • presentation (i.e. we can read it: not illegible, nor unduly besmeared)
  • a plausible story
  • supporting evidence for the plausibility of your story (maybe a short bibliography or note of any particularly interesting points that the judges might not know to be plausible if you don't tell us where you got the idea?)
  • complexity/effort: (e.g. a tricky persona that's been well-researched anyway; or an easier persona that's been researched in a great deal of detail)

 

If you want to present documentation/supporting evidence, you can use up to another two sides of A4 paper, in addition to the back-story itself.

Accessory/Item

This could be:

  • An item of clothing
  • A weapon or an item of armour
  • Jewellery, belt, broach or other dress accessory
  • A pouch or anything that may be contained therein
  • An item relating to your pastime or profession
  • An item that would be found in your house

Qualities that may help you score well in the "item" category:

 

  • good workmanship
  • a difficult project, or one that requires many skills
  • a plausible (authentic) item
  • evidence that this is a medieval thing, made in a medieval way (documentation)
  • evidence that your item is relevant to your persona (another aspect of documentation)

Document

This could be any written item.

Your document could be:

  • Indentures of apprenticeship
  • Love letter
  • Will
  • Inventory
  • License to kill cull the king’s deer
  • Ransom demand

Qualities that may help you score well in the "document" category:

 

  • plausibility (authenticity), quality (workmanship), and difficulty/complexity/effort in each of:
    • the words used
    • the paper/parchment/whatever
    • the style of writing (penmanship / font)
    • the method of writing (inks, pens, printing materials, etc)
  • evidence for any of the above (documentation)
  • evidence that this document relates to your persona

When you submit an entry at an event you will receive feedback from one or both judges but no marks will be allocated until the conclusion of the competition at St Sebs 2015. You can either leave your entry with one of the judges or take it away and improve it. Either way, all entries will need to be at St Sebs 2015 for marking.