New Knights!

The new knights were announced in the sidebar 'knights' section at the start of the month but I thought I'd put up a little post for them here too.

Our new knights are: Nikesh Shukla and Brian Knight (yes, he was already a Knight by name but now he also has the title!)

They've been given relatively free rein to do what they will with their month of power. Curious to see what they get up to - I will report back!

If you stumble across them on twitter - http://twitter.com/nikeshshukla and http://twitter.com/thenewauthor - don't forget to call them 'Sir' until 5th Nov :) Oooh! 5th Nov - Guy Fawkes Night - wonder who will be the next Knight of the Month. All nominations go into the comments section below.

By the way, when you're tweeting up the Word Nerd Army or our issues, there's a nice short URL you can use - http://tiny.cc/wna - thanks for all your enthusiasm and ideas. You can also now find the Word Nerd Army group on LinkedIn! Remember to look it up next time you're there.

Word Nerd Army Award for Knightly Potential

New Rules

On Monday 5th October, the next knight of the month - if one qualifies - will be announced.

Above is a new award. It is the Word Nerd Army Award for Knightly Potential. Sounds rude but isn't.

This is your opportunity to nominate people you think have made a contribution to the cause of words. Maybe they run a writing group or blog or maybe they're an awesome librarian or teacher or maybe they're a writer or simply just passionate about books. You can even nominate yourself! The Award of Knightly Potential shows that a person has been nominated to go forward into the next tournament to choose the Word Nerd Knight of the Month.

How to Nominate Someone

To nominate someone, simply present them with the above award - which shows that you think they have knightly potential - and pass on the following rules.

Rules of the Award/Nomination

Here are the rules a person must follow to display the award and qualify for consideration for the big award - Knight of the Month:

If you are nominated to be the next Word Nerd Knight of the Month, you can put the above award on your blog/site once you have completed the following tasks. The award shows that you are deemed by one of your peers to have the potential to be a Knight of the Month. It is your invitation to the Word Nerd Knight of the Month Tournament.

1. Follow http://wordnerdarmy.blogspot.com/. You need to follow this blog to be entitled to display the award and be considered as a potential Word Nerd Knight.


2. Put up a post on your own blog/site thanking the person who gave you the award and writing about one of the 11 Word Nerd Army issues that you feel passionate about. Go to the first post - http://tinyurl.com/11issues - to see these issues in more detail and the short URLs for each of them. Write about an issue on your blog and link back here at the end of your post.


3. Come to this post and leave a message in the comment section saying who nominated you and leaving a link to your blog post about the issue you chose to write about. You can also say in your comment why you think you would make a great Knight of the Month.


4. Nominate 3 more potential Knights of the Month by sending them the award, passing on these rules and linking to this post. Once you have completed 1-4 you have qualified as a potential Knight of the Month as you have shown dedication to words and respect for fellow word lovers - all qualities that make for a great Word Nerd Knight.


5. Put up your award! Link back to this blog or link to the post in which you wrote about the issue in your own blog. Wait to see if you win the big prize!

If you win, I will contact you and present you with Sir Word Nerd, Knight of the Word Nerd Army, which you display on your site/blog for as long as you are a follower of this blog.

Good luck!

Rebecca

Could You Be the Next Word Nerd Knight of the Month'?

At the foot of the right hand column you may have noticed a knight. That is the 'Word Nerd Knight' and is awarded to the 'Knight of the Month'. Most months there will be just the one knight but for the first month, the title was awarded to two brave chaps: Paul Carroll and Dan Holloway.

Rather than have a namby-pamby 'here is my handkerchief' Lady and a kick-butt-charging-into-literary-battle Knight, there is just the one character. As all Word Nerds kick butt (as evidenced in every LitChat bunfight I have observed) and in the spirit of honouring the masculine and feminine within all writers, the Word Nerd Knight carries flowers and is addressed as 'Sir Knight'. Anyone can become 'Knight of the Month' but the title will only be handed out when there is a suitable recipient.

Why are you only 'Knight' for a month? It seemed appropriate, given the way the Word Nerd Army was founded. I am only 'Ms Twitter UK' for a month but I can always claim to have been holder of the title. The same is true for valiant Knights of the Word Nerd Army. It's yours for a month BUT 'Sir Knight' - The Word Nerd Knight - can guard your web site or blog for as long as you are a follower of this blog. You'll only lose the right to display it if you are banned from this blog for acts of extreme badness. When your month has passed you can consider yourself to have been 'Word Nerd Knight of Month The Firste/Seconde' or whatever if you like.

Who Is Word Nerd Knight for Next Month?

That's still up for grabs. I will make my choice at the end of the first week in September so you have a little over two weeks to convince me. I will make my decision based on:

• Blogs you post about the 11 issues (you must link to this blog and mention the issue that inspired you in your blog post)


• If you cut and paste the issue as your title, it's more likely to fly up google - points will be awarded for that - remember too that each issue has a memorable URL e.g. http://tinyurl.com/wordnerd-1


• Tweeting up of Word Nerd Army etc (e.g. the Word Nerd article on Booktrust's blog - http://news1.rebeccawoodhead.com/


• General behaviour befitting a Word Nerd Knight.

When you've done something knightly, put it in the comments section of this post. Points will be awarded for comments in the spirit of promoting the issues of the Word Nerd Army and points will be taken away for blatant self-promotion. Good luck!

Once again, if you want to be able to insist on being called 'Sir' for a month - might be a unique experience if you're female - this is your chance. Let the tournament commence..... NOW!