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Happy anniversary! November 2011
Articolo del 6-11-2011 a cura di


Hello everyone!

Here are the judge anniversaries for November. The following judges have been with the program for 5 or 10 years:

10 years:
Francois Grobler, Durban, South Africa
Riccardo Tessitori, Latina, Italy
Ingrid Lind-Jahn, Belleville, Wisconsin, United States
John Williams, Ames, Iowa, United States
Federico Burgio, Tremmestieri Etneo, Catania, Italy
Nozomu Endo, Mishima-shi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan
Misha Zagorski, Moscow, Russian Federation
Lindsay Heming, New South Wales, Australia
Ryan Dare, Balgowlah, New South Wales, Australia
Leroy Smith, Gladstone, Queensland, Australia
Oren Guez, Vitrolles, Sud, France


5 years:
Maxime Costa, Strasbourg, Est, France
Andrew Bezzina, Hamrun, Malta
Nicolas Bellon, Paris, Paris, France
Julien Moreau, Orleans, Paris, France

Congratulations, and thank you for all your hard work!

This month's featured judge is Lindsay Heming of Australia. Level 3 judge Ryan Dare writes: "Today is a tribute to the great aussie geek goth, The Dark Lord of Sith himself, Lindsay Heming. Lindsay celebrates his 10th anniversary this month, and what ride it has been. No other judge in the world has made a greater impact upon me as a person, and as a judge.
Lindsayhas always been there to guide, mentor and support judges all over Australia, and indeed the world, and he does so with enthusiasm and joy.
Lindsay is the reason some of us are still judging today - the reason that a lot of us even STARTED judging. From all of us Lindsay, thankyou for the effort and life that you have put into the program over the last 10 years, and may you continue to grace us with your presence!


We also have a trio of Level 3 anniversaries this month. At the 2006 World Championships in Paris, France, Carlos Ho, Kevin Desprez, and Nick Sephton all passed their exam.

Here is what Level 3 judge Paul Smith, had to say about Nick Sephton:
Nick Sephton
"Nick Sephton was the centerpiece of the judge community in my local community right from the very first moment I knew there was a judge community. I had seen events in my local area and wanted to help out, Nick showed me there was much more to the program than simply helping out locally, and inspired me to do more. Taking the initiative and starting some of the very first judge conferences, and kicking off the great UK and Ireland judge forums, I believe Nick single handedly built the judge community we have today in the UK. Now it's no great surprise that we have 4 Level 3 judges in the UK, and I am privileged to be one of them. But years ago you would have been hard pressed to see the UK getting this far. Everyone who makes it to L3 has someone who inspired them to get there. For England, I think it's always been Nick.
Now confined to a small island off the South Coast, my greatest fear is that the next generation of judges at home won't get to see Nick in action, but with more GPs on the schedule I really hope Nick remains a staple there. Plus, I need more videos to watch of Menger Sponge crushing and Marmite whipping. No really, you see, if you whip Marmite enough, it turns white..."

Here's what Level 3 judge Daniel Kitachewsky, had to say about Kevin Desprez:
Kevin Desprez
"The last to be promoted L3 in France for two and a half years, Kevin would definitely prove not to be the least. He's been dedicated full-time to Magic since mid-2006, working for the non-profit organization that's effectively the TO for all premier events in France. That makes him an expert in all logistical matters, but that's not what I respect him most for. I remember meeting Kevin for the first time as a player. Little did I suspect how much he would influence me! The most memorable experience for me was when I was about to head judge a prerelease for the first time. He traveled several hundred kilometers, while being sick with chickenpox, just to assist me. I know many people who would have stayed at home! He was also one of the first to advocate innovative mentorship ideas, such as making people think on their own with carefully crafted exercises and using direct feedback at strategic moments. His efforts helped foster a whole new generation of L3s in France, all heavily influenced and inspired by his ideas. A never-ending well of experience and wisdom, Kevin's greatest strength lies in his ability to find root causes to a variety of problems, thereby finding economical solutions to virtually anything. Even a brief encounter with him will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression."

Here is what Level 4 judge Damian Hiller and Level 3 judge Adrian Estoup had to say about Carlos Ho:
Carlos Ho
"When thinking of Carlos's story, many images come to our minds, but if I had to make one parallelism, I would say it's a story which resembles those movies which present a young guy who, in living in a lost town somewhere in the world map, has nothing more than a stick and a can to play baseball but, nonetheless, chases his big dream which is to score a home run in a crowded stadium and win a big league tournament. Well, Carlos's story ain't that different, though rather than a stick and a can, he based himself on two other pillars, effort and community. It's difficult to think of Carlos and not recognize his
effort, knowing his story: A judge who came from a small country where there weren't even PTQs and who could only dream to judge a Grand Prix event when seeing the coverage. But his work made him accomplish his goal.
Achieving years later to be not only one of the most frequent staff members in various events around the globe, but in many cases, performing the most important role a judge can aspire to be which is Head Judge of those events.

All the success which Carlos had in the program never made him forget his roots and that's why he, after settling grounds for a better community in his current residence in Spain, focused much of his attention to the community which saw him grow up. The Latin American community, after years of going without clear goals, somewhat asleep, now is a new community, full of energy and projects in which to work.
All this would've been impossible without the work of this Panamanian guy who had a dream, and never stopped til' achieving it. Congrats Carlos on your anniversary, the judge program is a better one thanks to you!"

As always, if you would like to send a personal message to any of these judges, please use private e-mail, Facebook or another social networking site instead of posting on this list.

Thanks to the Regional Coordinators for their help, and to Shawn Doherty in particular for coordinating the L3 anniversary features.


Johanna K. Virtanen
jkknuuti@gmail.com