You can help PROBE honor top volunteers

Top directors and medallist quartet members justifiably receive high praise.

But there are many other members who work behind the scenes in non-singing tasks to support our Society and the musical accomplishments. They are the marketing, public relations and bulletin volunteers who help communicate our message and our music, both within the Society and to other music lovers.

PROBE wants to recognize the top practitioners among them. And you can help - by nominating them for the prestigious PROBE Hall of Honor award. PROBE is the Society's self-supporting, all-volunteer Association of Public Relations Officers and Bulletin Editors. Anyone - men and women, members and non-members - who is interested in barbershop harmony communications may join.

PROBE's top award is its Hall of Honor, which has recognized 31 persons since it was established 11 years ago with the induction of Deak Martin, Dee Paris and Wilbur Sparks.

Nominations are now open for people who will be considered for recognition at the International convention in 2001 in Nashville.

A nominee, living or deceased, must have been a PROBE member for at least 10 years, and must have made contributions to PROBE and its purposes well beyond the normal duties of performing PROBE-related functions for a chapter or district.

Any current PROBE member may make a nomination. If you're not a member, join now or pass your nomination on through a member.

Your nomination must be in writing, specifically describing the nominee's services and contributions. Include supporting evidence if available. You also may include letters of support from others who know the nominee.

Your nomination need not be extremely sophisticated or professionally prepared. The selection is not based on the presentation, but on the nominee's merits. Further, this is not a competition, but recognition.

The deadline is April 30, 2001. Yes, that's several months away. But start now to think about it and gather the information you need. That will take a bit of time. Otherwise, you may forget about it and later realize that the deadline has passed.

Send your nominations anytime before the deadline to the award committee chairman, Jim Styer, 72 Allison Drive, Battle Creek, MI 49017. Or e-mail them to jimstyer@home.com. And feel free to write him if you have any questions.

Meanwhile, if you wish to join PROBE, you can sign yourself up by sending the $5 annual dues to PROBE, SPEBSQSA, 6315 Harmony Lane, Kenosha, WI 53143-5199.

Since membership is a legitimate chapter expense, you can have your chapter secretary sign you up by calling or writing Kenosha. In October, chapter secretaries send Kenosha a list of officers for the following year; PROBE membership can simply be marked on that submission to Kenosha.

Benefits of PROBE membership include support for PR and bulletin activities and a subscription to the quarterly PROBEmoter newsletter.