Do you have an artistic youth, or two, itching to share their work with the Knowne World? Then perhaps they’d be interested in entering the Youth Category at the Passing of the Ice Dragon Arts & Sciences Pentathlon. Each year, the Pentathlon receives about a dozen of entries of our your young populace, who took up our challenge and prepared something special. Nothing is too simple or too unusual! From basic embroidery to scratch-made macarouns (mac-and-cheese), these kids have something to show that could teach even us know-it-all adults!

Projects that have been entered over the past few years included block stamped silk fabric, self-knock arrows, a decorated youth heavy fighting shield, a woven viking backpack, paintings, a machine-sewn tunic with trim, illumination, an embroidered wood-handled Viking bag, inkle woven trim, a rabbit-fur lined pouch, and even some silk brocade. We welcome whatever your youth is enthusiast about! Our Æthelmearc youth is a treasure and we are looking forward to what they’ll come up with each time.

This year, the Youth Entries will be evaluated using Youth Entry judging criteria and the feedback will be tailored to the entrant’s age. We understand not each age range, nor all individual youths, process and produce at the same level and welcome adult guidance to help make the challenge of creation as much fun as possible. To help the evaluators evaluate the entry fairly, we request the youth or instructor to keep track of the division of labor, which is explained in more detail on the Ice Dragon Pent website. A simple list of who did what is often plenty.

Of course, we do love for a Journal to accompany the entry, to give us a glimpse behind the scenes of the creation of the entry. The judging criteria available on the Ice Dragon Pent website can be used as guidance to help explain what the evaluators are looking for when they look at the entry. If your youth is not yet at a point of making one, there are several ways the instructor can help. For instance, they can interview their youth entrant, or use the criteria questions as an on-paper interview. Whatever format your youth is comfortable with, we are too! We’re in it to inspire the next generation, and can’t wait to see what will happen next.

But wait a minute – now you want to enter too, but you are not a Youth?! No worries, we’ve got you covered! Check out the Pent website for more information – there is plenty to peruse – especially the Material Culture Entries (physical entries; anything not literary or visual) page and judging criteria.

If you have any questions, you can contact the Arts & Sciences Pent Coordinator Cori, or you can contact me. My youth has entered many times, and we are happy to share our experiences with you.

Yours in Service,
Elska á Fjárfelli
Deputy Pentathlon Coordinator

Youth Entries page of the Passing of the Ice Dragon Pentathlon
Youth Judging Criteria page of the Passing of the Ice Dragon Pentathlon

Kingdom Event page on the AS 54 Festival of the Passing of the Ice Dragon.
Home page of the Festival of the Passing of the Ice Dragon.
Home page of the Passing of the Ice Dragon Pentathlon.