The Lodestar Contest

To anybody who feels funny about earning the exclusive Merit Badge by doing reviews or advertising every round of the contest in your Notebook:

Being able to send the MB is another form of advertisement for the contest. It costs me a dollar in GPs. It's just about the cheapest advertising in the world and it's fun, and it makes me feel good.

Earning the MB is another way of supporting the contest, and that goes for doing any MB-earning activity a member runs. We offer MBs to encourage involvement with the activity. If we didn't have fun giving out MBs, we wouldn't offer them.

For me, I always wanted to feel like I earned my MBs (not saying I always did!), and so that's the experience I try to offer.