PRP Awards: What Are We Recognizing?

Mensa's newsletter award program is currently named the Publications Recognition Program (PRP). It was started over 30 years ago under the name Editors' Awards. The program's original intent hasn't changed very much over the years, but the categories for which the awards are given and the number of awards conferred have become an issue of much controversy.

I have been a PRP judge for the last three years. The program is strictly voluntary. The Mensa Publications Officer assembles a group of volunteer judges under the guidance of an appointed chairman. Editors are notified during the first quarter of the calendar year that they may submit multiple sets (depending on the number of judges) of three consecutive issues, of their choosing, of their newsletters by the first of April. All newsletter submissions must be accompanied by various paperwork in which the editors and LocSecs certify that the newsletters' contents are original and have been authored by their membership. Over a lengthy and time-consuming process, the judges rate the content of the newsletters in many predetermined categories. The individual ratings are tabulated by the PRP chair and the awards are presented at the AG.

With the proliferation of computers coupled with the sophisticated desktop publishing programs available, the computer-literate editor can "turn out" a class publication with a lot less effort than the editor of 10 years ago. Awards for style, blue pencil, overall appearance, etc., no longer carry the meaning that they once did. It is time to revamp the PRP to make it more meaningful to Mensa as an organization.

Individual contributors can win awards in categories including fiction, poetry, puzzles/games, art, humor, essay and a few more. The newsletters themselves qualify for awards for membership, LocSec column, editorial, photography and the previously mentioned blue pencil, style, etc. Missing from the list of awards is an award on publishing anything to do with Mensa, its ideals, purpose and/or goals.

It has been said that if a person who wasn't familiar with Mensa read a typical Mensa newsletter, he would learn next to nothing about the group. Most newsletters contain reprints of Internet jokes and a LocSec column that is often nothing more than a travelogue or stories about grandchildren, chocolate or cats. Many editors' columns are a rehash of the current newsletter. The membership column is a listing of members' birthdays and anniversaries. Poetry, fiction, essays, etc., have nothing to do with Mensa but it is always gratifying to see members contributing to their group's newsletter.

How about awards for the newsletter that fosters intelligence, is most effective at member recruitment, promotes gifted children's activities and, in general, promotes the ideals of Mensa? It is time to recognize the intelligent side of Mensa rather than its social side.

—John H. Garrison