Contests and fun contests
Going beyond BETY

Bulletin Editor of the Year contests are underway in all 16 districts. Each district has appointed a contest coordinator and publicity about the contests has been given in PROBEmoter and the district bulletins. Three judges have been assigned to each district, one for each category. The administration seems to be going smoothly.

One thing that may have helped is Wheedler, a bulletin I produce for district contest coordinators, district bulletin editors and bulletin judges. There were five issues this year that contained, among other things, detailed instructions for administering both the BETY and IBC. There were also enclosed databases of information about district contest coordinators, district bulletin editors and bulletin judges, so if you need to contact any of them, your district bulletin editor can help.

In these bulletin contests we will use the revised score sheets for the first time. You know you have the right ones if they say "Revised 7/98." The new score sheets were provided to all concerned with contests and are available from PROBE Secretary Brian Lynch at headquarters. They don't make wholesale changes in the way bulletins are judged. Rather, they clarify things that were ambiguous and correct some long known minor errors. Thanks to the category specialists for their fine work.

If you entered the BETY and you live, say, in Florida, you may wonder why one of your judges is a Canadian. Care is taken to ensure that none of your judges are from your district. Further, this year no district is being judged by the same judges that were used last year.

New judges

Category Specialist Craig Rigg recommended two new Grammar and Style judges for certification just in time for the contests. They are Joe Shekleton of the Illinois District and Fred Hinesley of the Dixie District. This was fortunate, since we barely had enough judges to hold the contests. Six judges retired this year, and four couldn't judge. We have seven volunteers to become judges in the pipeline. Our hope for continuing the contests lies with getting them certified and perhaps scaring up a few more candidates.

A contest just for fun

I herewith announce another bulletin contest, not run by PROBE, but by me personally. The contest is for the best April Fool barbershop article printed in a bulletin. As an example, Grady Kerr and Earl Hagn, while publishing the bulletin for Dallas Town North, ran an article reporting how Dallas Metro (Vocal Majority) had agents all over Texas who kidnapped boys and raised them on chorus farms. The article shouldn't be so dependent upon local chapter lore that the sense of it is lost on an outsider. I will be the sole judge. The winner will get an appropriate certificate. The winning article might be published in PROBEmoter.