A. We strongly encourage our winners to attend the ceremony on Thursday, June 6, 2013. We consider this an excellent opportunity for writer and audience to connect, as attendees get the opportunity to hear the author read from the winning work. One can count on the ceremony to be a lively assembly of Bay Area literati, past Medal Winners and Commonwealth Club members. If a winner has a scheduling conflict and cannot attend, we require that he/she send a qualified representative to the ceremony to accept the award and read on the winner’s behalf.