ANST - Overlooked A&S Displays - What Do You Do?

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Llereth asked:
>>  And though in an
>> ideal world one shouldn't have to, you could also go speak to the judges
>> directly, letting them know that you feel that they have overlooked your
work.
>
>An interesting idea.  May I ask what your response to such might be?

Well...

Depends.  If I did in fact go over your work carefully while you were in
the privy or otherwise unavailable, I'd say so.  This happens more than you
would think.  

I am one of those people who always writes a critique.  Sometimes, like
Mistress Siobhan, all I can say is, "You should go talk to _________ who is
the Laurel best known for this particular art in Ansteorra," or "I can't
judge this properly knowing nothing about _______.  However, _____,
_______, and _______ are all experts in the field.  You should try and
speak with one or more of these people if you get the chance."  Therefore,
normally you would know that I had been there while you were away.

But sometimes accidents happen, distractions abound at these events.  And
if I had inadvertently overlooked it, I'd go over and take a look then.  We
make mistakes too.  

Master Iolo once said a very wise thing, which directly applies to the art
of judging: "The more awards you have, the longer it takes to get to the
privy."  This is true, certainly, if you have a Laurel!  What it means in
connection with judging is that while judging you usually have multiple
interruptions and distractions: people who want to talk to you, someone who
has a question that they believe only you can answer, a disaster in the
kitchen that only you can remedy, one of your friends has gone into
hypoglycmia and needs help... these are all things that can tear your
attention away from what you are doing!  

One thing that SCA arts competitions do not usually do, but might should
consider, is to use an approach often found in art competitions at craft
shows:  there the items are looked at by the judges while isolated... the
art and the judges are all in one area, the public and artisans are not
allowed in, which means that the judges can hopefully get the items judges
in the least amount of time with the most concentration.  

Of course, in a "normal" art judging like this, no one gets critiques.  The
judges there are free to breeze by your work if they are uninterested in it
at first glance: all they have to do is pick 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd
place, and maybe a number of runners-up and honorable mentions.  Since in
SCA A&S, most people don't seem to want a clear winner or loser (unlike the
Champion style tournament that Mistress Aquillane mentioned) we don't
usually award ranked placements like 1st place etc. but we are expected to
give critiques in keeping with the focus and ideal of education and
furtherance of the arts.

While I do agree that every entrant at an A&S competition should get a full
critique from every judge in their category, you still do have to realize
that it takes a lot of time and effort.  Your judges are pure volunteers...
normally we show up as Laurels and Irises, pad and pencil in hand,
expecting to be needed as judges without ever being asked. We get no pay
for this effort.  Normally we must pay full site fee just as the entrants
do.  We don't get free feast.  And certainly no hard cold cash.  Yet we are
expected to work our butts off all day long (owch!  my feet!) much harder
than we work at our mundane jobs and our normal reward is complaining from
people who didn't like the critiques we did offer.  At maybe a third of A&S
events, the autocrat will remember to thank the judges -- we're Laurels,
it's our job, right?  But it's also our recreation time.

Don't get me wrong... judging these things *is* our job, and most of us
like doing it or we wouldn't volunteer to judge in the first place!  And
giving everyone a good, thorough, critique is likewise the ideal.  We try,
and maybe we need to work out better methods of doing these things.  So cut
the judges from slack, don't assume malice or a deliberate snub where
overwork and distraction may be the culprits.  I for one certainly don't
mind being asked if I skipped your table.  So ask me if you think I have,
I'll try to make it right.

Here are some problems with A&S judging that I have seen that maybe we all
should be working on together, with some suggested ideas for improvement:

(1) non-uniform judging caused by no standardized judge training
	Solution:  find out what a good judge is and start teaching people.

(2) not enough judges
	Autocrats and A&S coordinators, call and get a head-count on 
	judges who will be attending.  Call more Laurels and tell them
	you are short of judges and ask if they can attend.  Try to have
	one judge for every six entries so the judges aren't overworked.

(3) constant distractions
	Close the A&S display area for a while while formal judging is 
	going on (won't work for body of work displays, but even there
	you can run out everyone except the artisans and judges.)

(4) unappreciated judges
	At the last Kingdom A&S, Saint Seraphina the Bounteous set
	up a Laurels-only buffet and a Laurels only lounge area that
	made it easy for the judges to take short breaks and to be sure
	that they had food and beverages so they were happy and not
	about to faint on their feet: this was a fantastic idea and really
	made the judges feel appreciated.  Remember to thank the
	judges.

I'm sure that other people will be able to think of more.

Communication gets down to the root of it.  Tell us if you've been missed!
There may be a very good reason, wit may be a mistake, but do ask!






Wæs Þu Hæl (Waes Thu Hael)

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
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