Choose a Question
- Why is this award important?
- When was the Twain Award formed and why?
- What does the Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award symbolize?
- What is the Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award about?
- How do lodges participate in the competition?
- How will entries be evaluated?
- How does a lodge win a Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award?
- When will the Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award winners be announced?
- When will entrants be notified about the status of their entry?
- How do I organize my entry?
- Where are entry forms available?
- What is the schedule for the award?
- What kind of support documentation is appropriate?
- Will submissions be returned?
1. Why is this award important?
Following the report It’s About Time: Moving Masonry into the 21st Century, the Masonic Information Center (MIC) Task Force initiated the annual Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award as the next step towards achieving our greatest challenges:
- To heighten Masonic identity.
- To restore the energy of Masonry.
2. When was the Twain Award formed and why?
In response to the 2004 Grand Masters’ call for the MIC to develop a public awareness program, the Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award recognizes the urgent needs among Masons in North America to accomplish the following:
- Clarify Masonic identity throughout the greater community,
- Energize the experience of Freemasonry within the lodge and
- Improve communication among lodges throughout North America.
3. What does the Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award symbolize?
The award borrows Brother Mark Twain’s identity as a lively, innovative communicator, whose work consistently challenged his listeners and readers to think and act responsibly, to ask questions, and to seek enlightenment.
“What is a man without energy? Nothing. Nothing at all.”
-Mark Twain
4. What is the Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award about?
The annual Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award is first and foremost about Masons working together, benefiting from ideas and experiences of Masons throughout North America who are working to move Masonry into the fast-paced world of the 21st Century.
5. How do lodges participate in the competition?
MIC invites lodges to submit a brief contact form to join the Twain award participant network. This MIC-sponsored communications network is designed to bring lodges into closer communication through Internet resources.
To participate in the competition, a lodge must submit a participation confirmation no later than June 1st so that entrants can benefit from the same networking resources made available through MIC. Lodges may submit the form to the MIC via email (msana@ix.netcom.com) or fax (301) 608-3457
Download Participation Confirmation in PDF.
6. How will entries be evaluated?
The MIC task force will review each entry based upon individual merit. Lodges should provide answers to the following questions:
- What did your lodge do to heighten Masonic awareness in the community by communicating traditional Masonic values?
- What did your lodge do to provide camaraderie, build enthusiasm among members, and create an environment of mutual respect?
- How well does your submission communicate your lodge’s accomplishments?
- How many and how often did lodge members participate?
7. How does a lodge win a Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award?
A lodge demonstrates its commitment to energy, innovation and creativity toward achieving the objective of moving Masonry into the 21st century. It provides evidence of activities that clarify and communicate Masonic identity.
Entries will be judged by the MIC Task Force based upon the lodge’s submission of a binder, detailing the activities that the lodge planned, implemented, and evaluated in response to the MIC’s call to action in It’s About Time.
8. When will the mark twain masonic awareness award winner be announced ?
The Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award winners will be announced in February of each year at the Grand Masters’ Conference.
The first annual Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award competition will kick off at the 2006 Grand Masters’ Conference and the winners of the first annual award will be announced at the Grand Masters’ Conference in February.
9. When will entrants be notified about the status of their entry?
As an entrant, the lodge becomes a part of a MIC sponsored Twain Award Network that takes advantage of web-based communications and builds linkages among entrants.
Lodges will be contacted by the Masonic Information Center if they are named a winner of the Mark Twain Masonic Awareness Award.
10. How do I organize my entry?
Your entry will be organized into five main components:
- Entry Form
- 100-word typed summary
- 3- to 4-page typed initiative description
- Appendices
- Supporting documentation
11. Where are entry forms available?
Entry forms are available online in PDF format.
12. What is the schedule for the award?
To participate in the Twain award competition, submit participation forms no later than June 1, 2008 so that the lodge can benefit from resources made available through the MIC sponsored Twain Award Network.
The deadline for entry submissions is December 1, 2008
The awards winners will be announced at the Grand Masters’ Conference 2009.
13. What kind of support documentation is appropriate?
Support documentation is important to evaluating the overall quality of an entry. Support materials provide evidence of the work the lodge accomplished to raise Masonic Awareness.
The documentation may be submitted in print and non-print media including the following: photographs, DVDs, CDs, brochures, websites, press releases, feature stories, news articles, and much more.
Because this is a continent-wide competition, it will not be possible to return your submissions. Please send copies. Retain your originals. Please see submission format for more information.
14. Will submissions be returned?
Because this is a continent-wide competition, it will not be possible to return your submissions. Please send copies. Retain your originals.
Please see submission format for more information