Message from Sam Kantimathi, Chairman NASPA-WESPA Liaison Committee:
Minutes ago, I have been informed by the Treasurer of WESPA that NASPA has just joined WESPA as a Class 1 organization with a membership of approximately 2,100.
This important development in the World of Scrabble would not have been possible without the hard work on the part of many of us including Elie Dangoor, John Chew and Chris Cree. Tony Leah and I have been working tirelessly towards this for much of this year and would be happy to answer any questions.
Our thanks are also due to Hasbro, the Steering Committee, and Mary Rhoades and Carla Cree.
All the best,
Sam Kantimathi
Chair, NASPA-WESPA Liaison Committee
October 8, 2009
The following is the News Release from NASPA Executive Committee:
On behalf of the Executive Committee, I am happy to announce that
NASPA has become a member of WESPA (World English-Language Scrabble
Players Association). We have now joined the likes of the United
Kingdom, Australia, Tel Aviv, Malaysia, and South Africa in pledging
our united interest to promote English-language Scrabble as a serious
competitive endeavour, and to support English-language Scrabble
players throughout the world as the need arises.
The decision to join WESPA was only made after consultation with, and
approval by, the Steering Committee at its meeting at the National
Scrabble Championship in August, 2009, and with Hasbro's approval a
few weeks later. All recognized the importance of giving a voice to
our North American players when they compete internationally, and to
represent North American players' needs on the world stage. The cost
for membership is $150 per year.
It is imperative to understand that this is not an endorsement of the
Collins word list. I repeat, joining WESPA is not the first step in a
not-so-subtle plot to eventually merge our dictionaries. NASPA has no
plans, right now or in the foreseeable future, to adopt Collins.
Should this become a contentious issue from WESPA's side of things,
NASPA can always choose to revoke its membership.
Any questions regarding this can be addressed to Robin Pollock Daniel,
your new NASPA spokesperson, or to Tony Leah or to Sam Kantimathi,
who are the points of contact in Canada and the U.S., respectively.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
skin_it_mahatma's journal
