Hello all. Today I have the honour of announcing a new level of recognition for the Judge Program's best and brightest: the Magic Judge Hall of Fame. The Hall is a way of commemorating the exceptional efforts and contributions of the men and women that make judging what it is, and providing inspiring examples for us all.

You can read more about the Hall, its first five members, and how new members will be voted for here: http://blogs.magicjudges.org/hof/2015/04/24/announcing-the-judge-hall-of-fame/

Discussion of this can take place on the new Magic Judge Hall of Fame forums, which will be created shortly. If you're tweeting, we're using #mtgjhof.

I'd like to take a moment to thank the hard-working team that helped make this a reality:

Project Leads - Jaap Brouwer & David Lyford-Smith
Project Inception & Guidance - Andy Heckt
Team members - Kevin Binswanger; Steven Briggs; Alfonso Bueno; Guillaume Beuzelin; Carlos Ho; Damián Hiller; Scott Marshall; Sebastian Pękala; Riccardo Tessitori; Johanna Virtanen; and Edwin Zhang
Website development - David de la Iglesia

Voting for the first catchup ballot, covering judges certified in 1998 or earlier, is now OPEN!

See this link for the details: http://blogs.magicjudges.org/hof/2015/05/01/1st-catchup-ballot-the-2008-class/

And don't forget to check out the new Magic Judge Hall of Fame forum for discussion of ballots and candidates: http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/3540/

Reminding everyone - we are over half way through this voting windows, closing on 19 June.

Also, whether you're looking for input on your own ballot or just like cool stories about the old days, check out the forum!

Originally posted by David Lyford-Smith:

Voting for the first catchup ballot, covering judges certified in 1998 or earlier, is now OPEN!

See this link for the details: http://blogs.magicjudges.org/hof/2015/05/01/1st-catchup-ballot-the-2008-class/

And don't forget to check out the new Magic Judge Hall of Fame forum for discussion of ballots and candidates: http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/3540/

First of all, a belated congratulations to the Class of 2008 - David Vogin, John Carter, and James Lee.

Secondly, voting for the 2011 Class - the 2nd catchup ballot - is open from today until Monday 21st September. You can read more about the candidates and the voting process here: http://blogs.magicjudges.org/hof/2015/08/03/2nd-catch-up-ballot-the-2011-class/

And of course the Magic Judge Hall of Fame forum remains open here: http://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/3540/

Congratulations to the 2011 Class of the Magic Judge Hall of Fame: Toby Elliott, Jason Ness, and Scott Marshall!