General

B.P.R. Appoints Nancee Mancel to the E.C.

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The WGPO Board of Player Representatives (BPR) is pleased to announce the appointment of Nancee Mancel to the WGPO Executive Committee (EC).  Nancee fills the position previously held by Mike Johnson who recently announced his resignation from the EC.

Nancee is a longtime player and director from New Mexico.  She ran the popular Albuquerque tournament for over a dozen years and recently co-directed and co-hosted the innovative 100-games WGPO tournament at her home in Santa Fe. Additionally, for many years, Nancee supplied name buttons to tourney directors all over the US.  Nancee is a retired math professor who taught at Central New Mexico Community College.

We welcome Nancee to the EC and look forward to working with her on the many projects WGPO is planning for the new year.

The Board also thanks Mike Johnson for his service to WGPO during his seven years on both the BPR and the EC.   The organization would not be where it is today without his many contributions and leadership.

General

WGPO Election Results – 2020

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The 2020 WGPO General Election and Referendum has concluded, and here are the results.

Congratulations to Keith Hagel for being elected to the Executive Committee, and to Kirsten Gwilliam and Susi Tiekert for being elected to the Board of Player Representatives. Thank you to all candidates who took the time to run.

Results of the referendum are below:

Question 1: Shall WGPO establish, maintain, and make available its own WGPO official
word list to be used for North American club and tournament play.

__x__ Yes, Establish a Independent WGPO Official Word List (64%)
____ No, Do Not Establish an Independent WGPO Official Word List (36%)

Question 2: If the membership votes to establish a WGPO official word list, the following referendum will guide future WGPO committees tasked with the creation and update of this word list regarding the inclusion of slurs. Choose one of the following:

__x__ All words: WGPO’s official word list should contain all appropriately identified words including slurs and other offensive words. (69%)
____ All but a few words: WGPO’s official word list should contain all appropriately identified words except a short list of the most offensive slurs (approximately 10 or fewer). (31%)

The full election results are available at:

Full Election Results

Thanks to everyone who took the time to make your voice heard.

The WGPO Election Committee
Lynda Finn (Chair)
Michael Johnson
Doug Shaw

General

From the Executive Committee

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We want to personally thank the Elections Committee for their dedicated work in running this election, and our general membership for voting in this important referendum and leadership election. The choice of word list is a fundamental part of our game, and we are proud that this decision was made by our membership. The Executive Committee hears your voice and is committed to implementing the results of this referendum.

In light of the YES vote to create an independent WGPO tournament word list, we would like to announce the formation of an official WGPO Lexicon Committee, and will be selecting members for this committee to start in January 2021. If you are interested in volunteering for this important new committee, send contact information (email, phone, address) to ec@wordgameplayers.org by December 28th.

Best,

Deborah Baggett
Keith Hagel (EC-Elect)
Mike Johnson
Steve Pellinen

Announcements, Elections, General

WGPO Election 2020

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It is time for our annual election. Your vote matters. This year there is a referendum concerning the creation of an independent WGPO lexicon, as well as elections for an Executive Committee seat and 3 candidates for the two open Board of Player Representative seats. Referendum language and an FAQ is available at

WGPO Referendum FAQ

If you registered or voted in either of the previous three year’s elections you have already been emailed a ballot (it may arrive in your spam folder, so check there if needed). If you did not receive an electronic ballot and would like to vote, please email your request to elections@wordgameplayers.org and you will receive your ballot by email. Electronic voting ends on December 14th (11:59pm Pacific time). You may also print out and return a paper ballot, but it must be received by December 14. Contact elections@wordgameplayers.org for more details.

The Election Committee
Lynda Finn (Chair)
Doug Shaw
Mike Johnson

Announcements, Elections, General

Seeking Nominations

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Greetings WGPO members,

Nominations for the WGPO Executive Committee and Board of Player Representatives are now open. There is 1 seat open on the Executive Committee and 2 seats open on the Board of Player Representatives. Each leadership position has a two year term starting January 1st, 2021. A brief description of each position is listed below. Members may nominate themselves or another member. Send your nominations as soon as possible to

elections@wordgameplayers.org

All nominations and candidate statements must be finalized by November, 28 2020. The election will be held from December 1-14. Information about how to vote will follow in late November.

Sincerely,
The WGPO Nominations and Elections Committee
Lynda Finn (Chair)
Doug Shaw
Mike Johnson

Executive Committee:

The three-member Executive Committee directs and administers WGPO operational affairs, creates standing and ad hoc committees and delegates responsibilities as needed.

Board of Player Representatives:

The five-member Board of Player Representatives represents the membership as a body for policy making and is the final arbiter for disciplinary actions or appeals.

General

Wisconsin Dells – The tradition continues

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It’s the continuation of a tradition, but with a new twist.
Dates are November 14 – 15, 2020.
Lynda Finn says:  This tourney is exciting for many reasons
  • Wisconsin Dells is the longest consecutively running tourney in North America (perhaps?)
  • This is the first WGPO tourney to take place at woogles.io
  • There will be Collins and TWL
  • The final best of 5 games will be live streamed

Here’s the flyer: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d38HOaiQANqK5WAVzKKLd_v_ZR9Jw45OnOek1MVU0io/edit?usp=sharing