The past 48 hours has seen significant change in the way people are impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). In particular, our convention in San Antonio is impacted in that University of Texas at San Antonio is asking that non-essential meetings of more than 50 people on their campus be cancelled.

Moreover, since all spring international prelims contests around the Society are intended to feed the BHS International Contest in early July, an important consideration is how the Society decides to react. This morning, your district leadership received the following notice:

  • “BHS staff has been conducting daily meetings with representatives from the District Presidents Council and the Society Contest and Judging Committee over the past week to gather information and make recommendations about how best to manage the BHS response and decisions about our upcoming local and BHS events. After much careful consideration and information gathering, and in order to protect the safety of our members, committed volunteers, and attendees, we have come to the conclusion that all spring District events and International prelim contests should be cancelled immediately."

 Accordingly, the Southwestern District Spring International Prelims and all other contests and meetings (SWD Board Meeting and House of Delegates Meeting) associated with our 2020 SWD Spring Convention are hereby cancelled.

If you have already purchased a convention registration online, your purchase will be refunded to the card used to make the purchase within the next week or so. There is nothing further you need to do.

With regards to the Society’s International Contest in Los Angeles in early July, things are still very fluid. We ask that you be patient while Society staff and the Contest and Judging Committee work the situation. At some point we expect there will be an announcement about the viability of that convention and how to qualify to compete if it moves forward.

Keep the Whole World Singing!

SWD President Richard Howell