It is time again for the populace to Award the Swift’s Heart!

For those unfamiliar with the Award of the Swift’s Heart, this is the award bestowed by the populace, given to those individuals identified by the populace who have shown true kindness, and are helpful, considerate, and inviting. It was created last year to take the place of our previous gendered populace awards, the Heart of South Downs and the Chivalry Award.

The award is given no more than once per South Downs event, preferably at the event. The ceremony for the awarding is arranged by the previous recipient(s) in consultation with the baronage. We have three baronial events, clustered from Sep/Oct to February, so at most three awards per Anno Societatis.

Voting for the award(s) is conducted annually, prior to Red Tower, and the granting of the award(s) spread out over the event season.

STEP 1: NOMINATIONS (the thing starting now)

Nominations are now open and will continue through Wednesday, August 21, 2024 (to give people at Pennsic time to participate).

Every member of the populace may nominate up to 3 other members of the populace. Previous recipients of one of the South Downs populace awards are ineligible:

Heart of South Downs Recipients: https://southdowns.meridies.org/about-us/baronial-awards/heart/

Chivalry Award Recipients: https://southdowns.meridies.org/about-us/baronial-awards/chivalry/

Swift’s Heart Recipients: Justina di Silvestri, Ogata Mitsuko, Ælfric Hort, Sunneva de Cleia

Use this form to submit nominations: https://forms.gle/uqasDchJw1geX9179

If you’re unable to use the form, email the seneschal (sen.southdowns@meridies.org).

The results of the nominations will be received by a committee formed of the seneschal, baronage, and at least two previous recipients of a South Downs populace award – if you’d like to volunteer to serve on the committee, please do so.

STEP 2: POLLING

The committee will compile the nominations into a ballot. If you submitted a nomination, the ballots will be emailed to you at the email address on the nomination form. If you do not wish to nominate anybody, but do wish to receive a ballot, you can either submit a nomination form with the nominee names blank, or email the seneschal to let them know you’d like to participate in the voting.

Ballots should go out on or around August 28, 2024.

Ballots will be emailed out to all who request them. Voting will be ranked choice (indicate 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).

The committee will review and count the votes cast to determine who the populace wishes to see awarded, and the next recipient of the Award of the Swift’s Heart will be recognized by the populace at Red Tower.

From the Honorable Lord Mark de Wytteney, Deputy Seneschal:

Polling for non-resident members of the Barony of South Downs, for the determination of our next Baron and Baroness, will occur on two dates – the first will be this Wednesday, December 5th. The second will be a week later, on Wednesday, December 12th. Polls will be overseen by me, his Excellency Lorenzo, and one non-officer volunteer from the Barony. We will check to make sure that all polled are on approved non-resident member list. His Grace, Duke Thomas, shall act as proctor for the Kingdom Seneschal.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

• To be able to poll, you must have met the polling requirements and be on the non-resident member list. If you weren’t on the list as of the October 17th deadline, then you will not be able to poll.
• Resident members of South Downs (those living within the established zip codes of the Barony) will be mailed ballots and do not need to vote in person.
• HIGH IMPORTANCE: a member CANNOT consider themselves part of multiple groups. If you live in and are an active participant in another group, you can not be considered a member of South Downs for polling purposes.

We hope that by providing two days for in person polling, we can provide everyone eligible the ability to have their voice heard by the Crown. Please be aware that non-resident members will not receive a ballot by mail, nor will they be able to mail in their ballots. You must be present at the Baronial meeting on either the 5th or the 12th to have your ballot counted.

We will also accept polling at the South Downs Fighter Practice on Sunday the 9th.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here or via email at seneschal AT atlantasca DOT org.

At the October business meeting Their Excellencies announced they will be stepping down.

This triggers the process for a polling for new baronage. We will be conducting this process over the next couple of months.

To be eligible to vote on the polling, you must be either:

A paid member living in the zip codes of South Downs (this link will take you to the Kingdom Atlas page where you can search for your zipcode to determine whether or not it is part of South Downs: http://www.meridies.org/atlas/kingdomatlas.htm)

OR

A Non-Resident Member, which is a paid member living outside the zip codes with a record of activity within South Downs (defined as attending eight baronial activities in the last year, with six of those in the last six months). Non-resident Members must submit their request to receive a polling to the office of the seneschal (preferably by e-mailing seneschal AT atlantasca.org) at or before the October 17th business meeting (NB: If you are finding out about this from the website, the deadline for you is October 24th – please notify the seneschal when you submit your request).

At the business meeting on October 17th (At the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta), we will take nominations for candidates.

To be eligible to be nominated you must be either a paid member living in the zip codes of South Downs, or a non-resident member as defined above. Further, you must have been an active participant within the barony for the last 3 years.

The list of candidates, and the non-member residents, will then be provided to the kingdom seneschal’s office, which will assemble the polling packets for mailing.

At the November 7th meeting we will hold a Q&A session for the candidates. You should also begin to receive your pollings in the mail around this time. At that point we’ll know the rest of the timeline for the polling process (when your completed ballots should be mailed back, when we can expect an announcement from Their Majesties).

The new baronage will be invested at Midwinter Arts and Sciences festival.

Yours,
The Seneschallate

Relevant policy documents:
Baronial Succession Policy

Corpora, Kingdom Law, and Kingdom Seneschal’s Handbook on the Kingdom Seneschal website

Society Seneschal’s Handbook