With the deadline of May 1 now behind us, lodges from all over the nation have energized their best ceremonial teams to aim for Exemplar Status at NOAC 2018.
The teams all worked very hard to perfect their ceremonies, overcoming technical and scheduling challenges to come together and "decide their destiny" as potential Exemplar finalists. Each team had to organize itself for practice sessions, find an appropriate venue and secure equipment to video their demonstration, and "nail it in one take" (no editing was permitted).
Now our expert Evaluations team is reviewing the video submissions to determine if any teams display the consistent, across-the-board excellence required to meet the Exemplar criteria. Those teams will be invited to demonstrate "live" at NOAC -- and you can be there to see them!
Teams will be notified by early July whether they should prepare to demo in person. Only a small number of teams will make Finalist and demonstrate in front of Exemplar Evaluators and a live audience. And perhaps even fewer will actually show the consistent excellence required to earn Exemplar awards. But ALL teams are invited to come to NOAC and get evaluated onsite for Honor Team status (which is also a real achievement on its own).
Aiming for Exemplar is truly a high-wire act for a ceremonialist, requiring hard work, courage, and intense concentration and focus (as well as sheer talent and willingness to serve as role models and training resources for our Order). Regardless of the outcome, all the teams deserve great praise for their mighty efforts. If you know a ceremonialist in your lodge who was part of a video submission, make sure to recognize them with an "attaboy" and make time at NOAC to support their demo if they make Finalist status.
Watch the Navigator in late July to see announcements of the Exemplar Finalist teams, and make sure to schedule yourself for seeing one of the live Finalist ceremony evaluations on Tuesday and/or Wednesday afternoons at NOAC!
More information, including an overview of the entire process, the evaluation rubric, and guidelines for video submissions, are on the ICE Portal at https://oa-bsa.org/resources/inductions.