Some will make it - every company has it's 'Goody Two Shoes' or whatever the expression is and GCU has a few in the hurrah team who I'm sure get a few mistakes overlooked based on the cheerleading they do here.  They'll deny it, these little worms always do, but every company has them.  
 
Like Evelyn mentioned, we're not submitting cards thinking that they are subpar, rather quite the opposite.  We've worked on that design sometimes spending countless hours and we think we have a winner, otherwise we wouldn't submit it.  I personally don't see any way I'm ever going to be perfect either, nor do I care to strive for such.  It's not worth the effort, especially for the payout at the end!  I can see issues with people who submit extrodinary amounts of submissions with errors such as spelling, grammar and punctuation although a greeting card isn't a literary masterpiece which should be scrutinized as such, but most grammatical rules should be followed.  I don't think GCU is looking for perfection here and if they are, they need to get their heads examined, but our text and verse needs to be reasonably free of errors.  Spelling should be easy as we do have the spell check feature in the card creation tool.
 
Mindy stated that they should have a record of nearly perfect submissions, which I'm sure a handful of artists here have.  I'm wondering if it's so much that they are good and error free or that they have been here so long, are consistent and do so much for the company that the reviewers and staff are afraid to mess with them?     The fact remains, they produce and the company wants to reward them for that and not have their submissions get bogged down with the likes of those from the rest of us.  Makes total sense and if it was my company, I'd do the same.
 
Those of you fretting over the "Star Submitter' status, I wouldn't worry about it.  It is what it is!  Just be the best that you can be, learn as much as you can and keep adjusting your sights accordingly!
 
Best always, Randy

Quote from Mindy on Mar 8^th, 2012, 12:41pm:

 
I'm not a hater.  That is how things work Mindy.  It happens everywhere.  Certain ones really produce for a company and their flaws are overlooked as the rest of what they do is more than productive and works for the company as a whole.  That's a given and my references are meant to be humorous in that regard.  We all have thses little worms wherever we work that we envy!  
 
When I worked at sales, there was always one or two salespeople who always did better than the rest of us.  They got all the attention of course and we were always told how we needed to eximplify them.  There's always a bit of jealousy, envy or whatever goes on when someone knows something you don't or seems to fly right along while you're sitting at the side of the road spinning your wheels in the mud.  It's human nature!
 
If any of my comments are considerd snide, my apologies, I'm just trying to make light of what some of us are feeling and approch the issues from a realistic angle.
 
It seems like some are concerned with the fact that they see the star submitter status as unobtainable.  I'm in the same boat and trying to encourage them to keep moving forward and not to worry about something they don't need to have any worry over.  
 
I'm sorry for trying, for expressing my concerns and for being such a party puss!  Can I go back and delete my posts?  
 
Best always, Randy

Quote from Gerda_141408 on Mar 8^th, 2012, 3:00pm:

 
Hi Gerda,
Sorry for my delayed response.
 
There will not be any calculated measurements nor accounting determining Star Submitter.  The process which is pretty informal is as follows as originally posted:
 
How will this work?  
On an ongoing basis the Card Review Team will nominate artists whose quality of work and consistency in applying GCU guidelines, virtually error free card submissions, deserve to be rewarded.  GCU staff will be final judge & jury on nomination confirmations.    
 
At this moment we have 5 Star Submitters.  It will grow but by design will remain a relatively small population to make sure the turnaround time on SS reviews stays speedy.

Quote from Oma_132016 on May 5^th, 2012, 7:13am:

 
 
Oma,
 
i think we have a pretty good idea who most of the star submitters are as they're likely the ones who seem to be working the hardest at it.  
 
I don't always see eye to eye with them in their assesment of others work, but they are always doing something right even if they are not always right, if you know what I mean.  Another thing I will give them a big hand for is their devotion to this business as a whole, especially devoting much energy and time to helping their fellow artists here even though they don't get paid for doing so.  That says a lot about the calier of these busy bees!  Like you, me and most other artists here, we're all part timers with day jobs so to speak and any help from these more experienced is well appreciated.  I think most of them have a bit more time to put into their card businesses, but from what I see, they may be full time, professional artists working at their GCU stores, however they're also working other angles and sources to promote their business so they've paid some of the dues along the way.  Even if not always right, it will only pay to listen to any free advice they offer, check out their stores to see what they're doing and model our business after their examples.
 
I don't care much for the 'Star submitter' program, as it favors those that have more time and ability to put into this business and I feel slightly handicapped as it is already, but there are certain rewards for hard work and success and this is one small perk for all that.  I don't expect to make it into their class, at least not until this is my full time endeavor, if such time ever comes as I tend to shoot from the hip which almost guarantees a few misses and not a perfect submission history.  However, common sense says that I should economize and make the best use of the time I do have available and any shortcuts that I can glean from their experience, I'm taking advantage of.
 
With that said, don't worry about who these 'Star Submitters' are as I think if you had to guess, you'd be almost right, rather take a few minutes every day at the forum, at the Critique Clinic and other threads where they offer their dedicated help and advice and learn all you can from them.  Even if you don't make the list of stars, you'll save yourself a lot of grief, wasted time and likely start increasing your sales here at GCU!
 
Anyway, that's my plan!  
 
Best always, Randy

Hi Oma,
 
Thank you for bringing the outstanding cards to our attention. We were able to find 4 cards outstanding as pending resubmitted. The reason for the delay is not evident.
If there seems to be an unusually long delay on your resubmitted cards at any time in the future please send us and email to cardreview@greetingcarduniverse.com. and we will be happy to look into it for you.  
We apologize for any inconvenience.  
 
 
 
Reviewer 758

I hear your desire for transparency and wanting to see and learn from these examples however the card designs/images themselves is just one part of the criteria for earning SS status.
 
As shared in the original post, we're taking into consideration:
 ... categories, titles, keywords, verses, artist’s notes, composition, margin allowances, image quality, spelling, grammar, etc.  
 
Many of these factors have to do with the process of the submission itself.  Finding the correct categories, creating effective card titles, not including misleading keywords, no typos, etc.   These are things that are not learned by observing other artists' approved cards but via the GCU wiki and advice on the forum and GCU Community Blog.
 
We have plenty of artists submitting A+ designs but have not yet mastered creating an effective card title or finding the appropriate category for example.
 
For what it's worth not all Star Submitters are vocal on the forum.  We sure appreciate those that are as they have the process down pat and have some valuable advice to share  

Hi Mindy - I'm wondering whether you could be more specific about the Star Submitter status.
 
I've only totted up my approved new cards as far as the beginning of this year, but even then, I've had more than 200 cards approved, one understandably Returned for Edits, one that was a case of the Reviewer  hitting the wrong button (so that's one-all, I think  ) and two that were a complete mystery to me why they were returned. (I emailed the  reviewer about them at the time but haven't had a reply).
 
So what does it take to get to this status?