2010 Report to WESPA members
This is a summary of the activities of WESPA for 2010.
Tournament Committee (TC), chaired by Chief Toke Aka
The TC, which monitors these, reports that there were 32 WESPA-rated tournaments in 2010 of which 11 were held in North America. Two of these were the West Coast Championship in Ashland and the WPC in Dallas, while the rest were really more for the promotion of the international word list.
The ratings criteria was reworded twice to accommodate unfolding scenarios, specifically regarding timely and prior notification and contacts for events not needing prior approval, and maximum percentage of participation by local players in rated component.
The TC also consulted with Philip Nelkon regarding increases in the number of WSC games and final games, and the results of this will doubtless soon be known when 2011 WSC arrangements are announced.
The TC was consulted on a pairing problem that arose in an international tournament and will also be undertaking the task of collating reports on rules application and incidents for future development and information to organisers.
Promotions Committee (PC), chaired by Howard Warner
The most visible sign of the PC's hard work will be seen in the revamped WESPA website and e-zine.
The website has been stripped down and is more dynamic and accessible with new features, such as news stories, media coverage, Edward Okulicz's ratings-archive tool, puzzles & quizzes, and a promotions page. It is aimed at bringing new visitors to the site, as well as keeping existing visitors stimulated and engaged. The e-zine is a complementary online vehicle, designed to get more visitors exploring more parts of the site.
The PC will be consolidating these two key promotional vehicles; building the store of personal and country profiles; and exploring ways to track media coverage.
A call has gone out for new, active committee members to fill some vacant slots.
Howard advises that Craig Beevers and Michael McKenna have contributed greatly to the work of the PC.
Youth Committee (YC), chaired by Karen Richards
The highlight of the year for the YC is the World Youth Scrabble Championship which in 2010 was successfully held in Manila in December hosted by NASCAP, with 82 contestants and attracted much publicity. Pakistan and South Africa made their debuts. The abilty of youth to organise tournaments was noted.
Karen and Alastair Richards have of course personally been very active in their youth coaching activities all over the world.
The YC is looking to renew its membership with active contributors interested in promoting Scrabble to the young. Karen notes some interest from China and Hong Kong but as yet these have not ventured onto the world scene with their youths.
Rules Committee (RC), chaired by Amy Byrne
Version 1 of the WESPA rules for international tournaments was released in 2009 and version 2, the culmination of a year's work by the RC, came out towards the end of 2010. As Version 2 came out shortly before some major internationals, they only came into effect at the beginning of 2011. Thanks are due to Chris May and his team for the amount of effort put into versions 1 and 2.
The rules are much shorter and at the same time more thorough. The wording of many parts has been improved. Major changes focus on overdrawing and acceptance of turn. The substantial fruits of these labours can be viewed on the WESPA website, and it is gratifying to note that many countries are adopting or adapting the WESPA rules, in whole or in part, for local tournaments.
Ratings Committee (RAC), chaired by Edward Okulicz
The RAC called for volunteers at the beginning of 2011 and Edward, who succeeded Stewart Holden as chair during the year, has reported that an encouraging number of well-qualified individuals have expressed interest in helping with the technical task of maintaining and improving the WESPA international ratings system. The most visible sign of the RAC's ongoing activity is the versatile ratings search tool, Aardvark, now implemented on the redesigned WESPA website. As reported by the TC, there were 32 internationally rated tournaments in 2010 generating continuous work for the RAC and the Ratings Officer, Bob Jackman.
Dictionary Committee (DC), chaired by Darryl Francis
The DC delivered all required update material to Collins, well ahead of the original November 2010 target. Collins have absorbed all the changes into their database. There was an agreed number of additions and deletions provided to Collins, and checks on the Collins database have confirmed that none of the changes got 'lost' in the process.
Our latest information is that there will be 1,532 additions and 145 deletions of words of eight or fewer letters.
Collins have been presenting the DC with examples of various fonts, layouts and page indexing for the new book, all of which are now agreed. The new volume will carry WESPA's endorsement.
Discussions are ongoing with Collins about production of a new edition of Official Scrabble Lists, with publication intended to coincide with the new word list.
The DC expects that the revised list will become available on schedule in 2011 and come into use in 2012.
WESPA Executive chaired by Elie Dangoor
The main committee itself has also had its share of activity.
The Treasurer, Andrew Fisher, spent considerable time and effort during the year dealing with getting WESPA's Paypal account, which had certain administrative issues, fully operational again. We are pleased to report that members can now again freely use this convenient payment method for renewal of subscriptions and payment of ratings levies.
To satisfy Paypal's requirements, WESPA in November 2010 registered a non-profit body, WESPA Inc, incorporated in the state of Victoria in Australia to operate WESPA's Paypal account. WESPA Inc acts on the instructions of WESPA and any monies held by it are held for and on behalf of WESPA.
The Secretary, SH Cheah, advises that the process of reminding members to renew their memberships and to update WESPA on organisational changes is a continuous task. Also members are reminded that 2011 being a WSC year also means that WESPA will be holding its Biennial General Meeting (BGM) and elections to coincide with the WSC.
WESPA is still seeking a suitable volunteer to succeed Naween Fernando as Honorary Auditor, a duty he has carried out most capably since WESPA's inception. It is recognised that the Auditor should be changed from time to time in the interest of good governance and overview. The duties are not onerous and the Auditor only needs to be able to scrutinize accounts, which in WESPA's case are currently simple, and comment and recommend appropriately. Anyone who is interested in serving in this capacity please contact the Secretary.
In conclusion, WESPA wishes all members a Happy New Year and looks forward to seeing their representatives at the BGM which will be called later in the year.
Feb 2011