2008 IKAC Awards

Greetings from Lorenzo, Keeper of the IKAC.

Below is the list of Awards given out for the 2008 Season. For the full list please view the Standings page

VERY IMPORTANT: Please read the notes at the end of the scores, they detail information about this just-concluded season, and SUBSTANTIAL changes for the upcoming Season XXXII, which starts today. I know the notes are a little long, but it is very important that you read them through the end.

The FINAL standings for Season XXXI of the IKAC/IKCAC competition are as follows (pending final certifiation on 15 February - please read first note below):

Open division

1. AETHELMEARC: 292; Laochlain Sylverwulf: 359; Christopher Silverwolf: 272; Gwyilym or Afonydd Tair: 245
2. AN TIR: 270.6; Andras the Truemark: 289; Gareth Stringbreaker: 269; Alis inghean Ruaidhri: 254

Period division

1. AN TIR: 180; Alaricus Simmonds: 266; Kenneth of Shaftesbury: 138; Daffydd De Donke: 136

Open Crossbow division

1. MIDREALM: 260.3; James Cunningham: 307; Erik Erikson the Scout: 240; Elspeth MacGregor: 234

Period Crossbow division

1. CALONTIR: 264; Dolan Madoc: 290; Rolf Hobart: 254; Michael vanBergen: 248

IKCAC

1. AN TIR: 293.3; Deicyn Moel: 340; Coriander: 274; Lahela: 266

Youth division

1. Douglas Silverwolf(AETHELMEARC): 318

KEEPER's AWARD

1. Baron Jonathas from Atlantia for his iniative and work in setting up the facilities to allow scores to be entered directly on-line
2. Osmond de Berwic from East for his continued work with IKAC and children
3. Sir Erika from Trimaris for her constant work on behalf of the IKAC in Trimaris

IMPORTANT NOTES

• Season XXXI (2008)
  1. Clearly this final posting is very late. For that I apologize profusely. The reasons are many and varied and known to some of you, but a substantial reason is paradoxically positive, i.e. thousand+ submissions since October which have taken a long long time for me to enter. The good news is that this issue is being actively handled as we speak, more on this later. ALL the scores received for ALL archers in ALL divisions are posted on the website ( http://www.detommaso.org/ikac ). Please review them, and let me know of any issues and/or errors. The scores will be certified on 15 February, so it is possible that some of the standings may change until then. The medallions for the winners will be available the first week of March. After 15 February, please contact me if you are a winner, or can handle medallions for the winner
• Season XXXII (2009)
  1. As mentioned earlier, I expect that data entry and reporting will be much easier going forward, freeing me to concentrate on managing the competition and the non on-line entries. Thanks to Baron Jonathas, who initiated the idea of using his portal for on-line submission and contacted me about it, I hope that the majority of scores in the coming season will be entered through the on-line form. Over the past several weeks we have been working to develop and expand the portal that currently allows some Kingdoms to enter scores through the online form for all archers to all Kingdoms for the IKAC. There are still a few issues to be worked out, but the expectation is that this will be available to all archers very shortly, and all appropriate links will be posted on the IKAC web site. The Excel spreadsheet and snail-mail submission will still be accepted, of course. More details on this as it develops, and again, heartfelt thanks to Baron Jonathas for his initiative and hard work with his Multi-Kingdom scorekeeping website. That this is possible is totally a tribute to his initiative, skill and resources.
  2. CHANGES: Time has come to make some changes, in the interest of the competition. They are as follows:
• CHILDREN Division is now limited to children 10 years or younger
• YOUTH division is for children aged 10-13
• BOTH divisions will use the formerly CHILDREN division shorter distances (10,15,20 yards, instead of 20,30,40).
• Children 14 or older will compete in the regular divisions at regular distances.
• The CHILDREN and YOUTH Divisions were always meant ONLY to help children get interested and started in archery and put in the time to start developing their skills. As I had specifically mentioned in the rules, children who already shoot at the level of adults should be shooting in the main divisions. For the most part this has worked, but there have been some exceptions. In the interest of the competition, starting this year, I will be enforcing this last point. Scores for the Children and Youth divisions will be limited to 200 or below. Also, I don't want to get multiple scores that all hover around 200. Those scores will be rejected. Marshals, please understand the goal of these divisions, they are meant to encourage children to get started and develop. I thank you in advance for your assistance on this.
• VERY HIGH SCORES: Without question, throughout the years by far the most unpleasant part of being Keeper has been dealing with the flood of emails that very high scores have generated from others. Having run the competition since 2000, and having 15000+ scores in my database, I can pretty much chart the progress of the archers of the SCA at large, and that of any individual archer who has ever shot an IKAC. But lately this matter has become worse, and it is my strongly held belief that the constant doubting of scores is damaging to the competition, because it generates the feeling that not everyone is playing by the same rules. As proof I can offer the many letters that I have received from archers who have written to me saying they are no longer shooting the IKAC for this very reason. So this must be addressed, and it will be addressed.

Although I firmly believe in the honor system that is at the heart of most of the SCA's competitions, clearly something has to be done to restore and/or strengthen everyone's belief that the IKAC is an open and level playing field. Therefore, even though going forward most scores will be entered on-line, I will review each score before I allow them to be posted. I reserve the right to reject any score for any reason. I don't expect to reject anything if all goes well, but I may contact individual archers to get more information regarding individual scores if they are well outside the mean.

In the end, I personally guarantee to each and every archer in the SCA that everyone in the competition is playing by the same rules, and my guarantee will include personal observation, wherever required. So going forward you can safely assume that if a score is posted, it deserves to be there.

I welcome your input on this, feel free to contact me at ikac@detommaso.org if you have any comments or questions on this.

Finally, thank you to everyone for your continued participation in the IKAC/IKCAC. This year was above average, and I hope that with the new on-line form, we will grow even more. Unfortunately, my mundane work prevents me from keeping up with the boards, therefore please send any questions or comments directly to ikac@detommaso.org, or detomamd@yahoo.com.

Shoot well,

- Lorenzo