Re: SHOW: Tough judges
When discussing judging, I think understanding the purpose
of the show is important. I am new to showing, only having participated
in 4 shows over the last 3 years. It is my understanding that a show's
primary purpose is to increase public awareness of irises. A secondary
purpose is to show the public examples of irises at their best. Finally,
and least, it is to allow growers to proudly show what they grow within a
spirit of friendly competition.
For the public, we need to put our best foot forward.
Anyone participating for the third reason should care enough to learn basic
grooming techniques and basic rules of the show. More is judged than just
how a specimen stands up against perfection. A show judges the skill
of the exhibitor in growing and displaying an iris. Just because a show
lacks
a lot of competitors or has a lot of new exhibitors isn't an excuse to
ignore basics.
Even a first time exhibitor should not surprised if a fall torn in transit,
a spent
bloom left attached, or a mislabeled variety does not get a blue ribbon or
is passed
by the judge. Smaller mistakes that may result in a lesser ribbon should be
used
as a learning experience for the next time. When the public sees a
beautiful stalk
get something less than a blue, it is a good opportunity to explain why it
did not.
No branching? Bloom fading and folding up? Silverado labeled as Dusky
Challenger?
Explaining this is how newbies can learn about irises, and the primary goals
of the
show are achieved. If you have a lot of new exhibitors, have someone
experienced put on
a grooming clinic and mock judging at the meeting before the show.
Should we let the public think that a stalk of Dusky Challenger with 3 buds
and
no branches because the weather was bad deserves a blue ribbon? No way!
Should a judge overlook poor grooming just because no one did their
homework?
Again, no. On the other hand, acceptable grooming and not-so-great stalks
due to
weather-related issues deserve something better than a pass. Some
recognition of
the effort of the exhibitor needs to be there to encourage future
participation. Shows
have to be fun and rewarding if folks are to continue to participate.
Judges who are
too stingy to award an Honorable Mention for a specimen on which someone has
obviously made an effort on definitely do a disservice to the show. A blue
ribbon for
a fine specimen that is well groomed but still not worthy of Best of Show
does no harm.
Still, it should be a good specimen with good grooming and presentation. I
agree that the
best possible course for judges who are deemed too harsh is probably to get
different judges the next time- but one needs to carefully consider if it
was unnecessarily
harsh.
Judges have a fine line to walk between the standards they are required to
maintain and keeping exhibitors interested in competing. I imagine the job
to be quite
daunting at times. I am grateful to the judges in our club for educating
our members
on grooming and showing. Thanks to their instruction, in the 4 shows we
have been in
we have always had at least 2 runner ups on the Queen's table. Watching the
winners
has taught us about stalk selection--what to show or not show.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Bruce jbruce@infinet.com
SW Ohio, USDA Zone 5b, Sunset #35
USA--Mid-Midwest
AIS Region 6, SSI,HIPS,TBIS, SIGNA
President, Miami Valley Iris Society
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