Greetings -- with this page I will try to answer as many questions as I can about my run for the poppy. I hope that this information will prove useful for those considering a run for the Kingdom of the West's Order of the Golden Poppy or other Kingdoms versions (i.e. Pentathalon).
-- Sabrina de la Bere
Kingdom Artisan A.S. XL/XLI
The Order of the Golden Poppy was created by William and Joanna at Beltane XIX (1984). It was their concept that those who achieve a "win" in the overall kingdom competition deserved recognition. In addition, it was hoped that this would also identify people who would be additional resources in the Arts and Sciences. At the time 7 people were admitted to the Order for their prior "wins" of Kingdom Arts & Sciences competitions. Trude Lacklandia was also named retroactively for her win at Purgatorio AS X -- she entered 15 competitions. Since then the award has been given whenever there was a qualified winner; which was not every year. I am the 25th member to be admitted. For the year following the admittance, you are named "Kingdom Artisan". A list of the members of the Order may be found here.
West Kingdom Law states:
§8.5
Membership in the Order of the Golden Poppy shall be offered by the Crown to the winner of the Annual Kingdom Arts and Sciences competition.
§8.5.1
The most recent member of the Order of the Golden Poppy shall be named as Royal Artificer or Royal Artisan, depending on the field of expertise.
§ 8.5.2
Duties of the members of the Order of the Golden Poppy during the year following their victory shall include: assisting the Minister of Arts and Sciences in running the following year's competitions, offering seminars at Kingdom events in those areas of the Arts and Sciences in which they are particularly knowledgeable, undertaking a project to complete Kingdom Regalia needs, or further enrich Kingdom level Arts and Sciences, if possible and subject to approval of the Crown. This project may receive funding, at the discretion of the Crown.
There are 20 competitions each year - from March Crown through 12thNight.
The competitions are scheduled as follows:
March Crown - 1 Arts and 1 Sciences competition
Beltane - 1 Arts and 1 Sciences competition
June Crown - 1 Arts and 1 Sciences competition
Arts and Sciences Tournament - 4 Arts and 4 Sciences competitions
Purgatorio- 1 Arts and 1 Sciences competition
October Crown - 1 Arts and 1 Sciences competition
12th Night - 1 Arts and 1 Sciences competition
The competitions are further broken down into 5 Fine Arts, 5 Performing Arts, 5 Technical Sciences and 5 Practical Sciences competitions. These are then scheduled through out the year as above, with 2 of each type making up the 8 A&S Tournament competitions.
A list of the competitions for the year, resources, and copies the judging sheets can be found on the A&S Website.
You must enter a minimum of 8 competitions including 1 in each of the 4 categories. The person with the most number of points from the 8 competitions "wins" entry into the Order. If you have multiple entries in a category, the top one is used. Once you have qualified in each category, then the next 4 top scores from your competitions are used to determine your total. The scores, must also be qualifying scores which means that they are 51% or greater than the available number of points for that competition. Currently each judge may award a total of 35 points x 3 judges = 105 possible points. A qualifying score must be 54 points or higher.
Thus, the Poppy Run is about breadth, depth, and stamina.
There is also the "8-Legged Race" where in you enter ALL 8 competitions at A&S. You can qualify for the poppy run if all your entries have qualifying scores.
More about my Poppy Run:
My thoughts on the run itself and my ceremony with links to pictures of my entries and copies of my documentation.
All Rights Reserved -- Robin L. Berry April 2006
Return to the personal webpages of Robin & Will/ Sabrina and William