[MR] A&S competitions

[Hulan family]

Thanks, Lady Glynis, for bringing this subject up. I've been entering
kingdom-level competitions for only about 6 months, so my comments are going
to be skewed to recent history.
 
It seems to me that the root of the problem (of lack of constructive
criticism) is lack of judges. Judges are pressed for time, and judges may
not have expertise in the all the areas that they are asked to judge. For
example, I generally enter scrolls or bound books. There are plenty of
judges out there who can give me detailed feedback on my scrolls (except
that they are pressed for time, having to judge the other 30-odd scrolls in
the competition), but there is next to no one in this kingdom who can give
me detailed, constructive feedback on my bindings. I've had judges out there
who try, which is much appreciated, but it's generally clear they are trying
to transfer their knowledge from one area (for example, gilding on scrolls)
to another area (for example, page edge gilding).
 
I agree that it is much more useful to receive constructive
criticism--preferably in the form of "you may wish to consider these
additional sources or techniques"--than it is to hear "this is so cool!"
(although that is very good for the ego, to be sure).
 
I'm not sure how to address the problem of lack of judges. Getting
contestants to "register" ahead of time may be workable in some situations.
I recently organized the competitions for a canton event, and I expected to
have a handful (maybe 5) entries in the brewing category--instead there were
20! I had some very tipsy judges by the end of the day. :) If I had known
there would be that many entries, I would have made a much stronger effort
to secure more judges.
 
Those are my thoughts, for what they're worth. (And no, you can't return
them for a refund.)
Aneira
 
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Lady Aneira Gwilt
Baronial Chronicler, Barony of Black Diamond
Past and present A&S projects: www.aneira.org <http://www.aneira.org/> 
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