| Golden Swan |
| Shire of Appledore |
| The Application Process |
| To be accepted as an applicant for Golden Swan, you follow a two-step process. First, a preliminary application is required by July Coronation of the year in which you wish to compete. If your application is accepted (and you generally only hear if it is not), you must submit the full formal application by September Crown. We would also prefer that you indicate that you're planning to apply for Swan to Olwen or a Swan even before you actually apply in July. This allows us to find out how much you know about the event and the competition, and to assess your level of readiness. We can also discuss any issues, concerns or questions you might have about the contest, which might save you a lot of work The Preliminary Application This consists of the application form, or all of the information required on the form on a sheet of paper, and a general bibliography for your persona. You will not be held to all of the details of the persona outline you submit at this time. Details can change, but the time period and culture of your persona must remain the same. This application is only to allow us to see if your persona is suitable, to know what time period and culture your persona is from so that we can prepare ourselves as judges, and to make sure your research has been based on appropriate materials. If your bibliography consists of encyclopedia entries, Reader's Digest Everyday Life Through the Ages, and some National Geographic articles, we want to stop you at this point. If your persona is going to be something we're pretty sure is implausible, based on our knowledge of history, we want to stop you now. The purpose of the two-stage process is to try to get a handle on how well prepared you are to attempt Swan. We don't want anyone to do all the work involved only to see them fail. If we feel you're not ready, we'll stop you at this stage. In the past dozen years, we have only had 1 unsuccessful applicant. Prior to that, there were several. We also had one near-miss in the past dozen years, and we want to prevent that from happening again. If you submit your preliminary application and get a response, but do not hear anything negative, your application has been accepted. Continue with your work. The Full Application By September Crown, we want the full application. This consists of your introduction to your persona, which is also your entry in the Calligraphy category. The style, script and materials used must be appropriate to your persona or at least plausibly medieval. If your persona does not write or use the Latin alphabet, you might wish to consult with Olwen or a Swan to determine how to handle this. You may use a foreign language if you wish, but assume we will find a translator. You must provide your own translation as well. The persona introduction usually comes in the form of a letter, usually a letter of introduction or a brief biography. If your persona does not write, the letter can be from someone writing on your behalf, but you must do the lettering yourself. The first page, roughly the size of a standard sheet of looseleaf or typing paper, or the equivalent, must be calligraphed. The rest can be typed or in regular handwriting. The letter is often addressed to the Ladies or the Sisters of the Golden Swan. It often includes some reason why you are traveling, but this is not necessary. The assumption is that you are traveling; otherwise you'd need to build an entire medieval house on our property, and furnish and staff it. And we don't want that. So for the sake of convenience for everyone, we assume you're traveling. Appledore or the site can be a convent or pilgrimage site en route, or a destination, or whatever you would like it to be. You must also submit all of the documentation for any categories you wish to document. Several categories require documentation (see the categories page for more information). Others suggest it. Documentation can consist of photocopies with full citations of the books, articles or webpages they were taken from, bibliographies, or essays in which you synthesize all of the information into a form we can absorb. In the latter case, you must still provide the sources of information you include. Some applicants have also included notes on issues they felt were worth commenting on. |