[MR] A&S Competitions: Apples vs. Oranges

[Michelle -TJ- King]

Greetings, all!

I don't enter competitions for a variety of reasons.
My biggest reason lately is that I feel most A&S
competitions aren't fair either to the contestants or
the judges in one important aspect.  There are too
many different categories on display.  When an A&S
competition includes costuming, C&I, embroidery, card
weaving, wood carving, metal working, bead making, how
can anyone say that one is *truly* better than
another?  Yes, you can judge the mastery required to
do the work; the documentation; the extent to which
medieval techniques were used.  But too often, those
criteria aren't used to judge the entry.  There just
isn't the time for the judges to adequately take all
those aspects into account.  If a competition is for
"Pre-1000 Items", how do you decide what is "best"?

I tend not to judge for the same reason.  I'm not
qualified to comment on somebody's poetry or brewing
or metal working.

My kudos to those competitions with well-defined
criteria.  For example, the competition at Twefth
Night for best garb from East of Byzantium (even
though my own Spanish garb didn't qualify), or the
upcoming "Most Authentic Middle Eastern garb" contest
at Challenge of the Heart (though again, I don't know
whether Moorish garb counts!).

Put people on a level playing field, and that will
help address the issue of compeitions being "fair".

Cheers,
Violante


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