ANST - Documentation (was Brewing competition results...)

[Michael Tucker]

Greetings, all:

Pug Bainter wrote:
> 
>   A week ago, the Barony of Bryn Gwlad Brewers' Guild held a competition
>   at Candlemas. [--snip--]  [We used] a "standarized" judging form that covered
>   the categories of beer/ale, wine, mead and cordials. We also judged
>   with two committees that ranged from 3 to 6 over the judging as people
>   needed to do things.
> 
>   The forms seemed to work well, so we will try them again in the future.
>   What these forms appeared to show regarding the different entries is that
>   documentation is the primary thing holding some people back. While
>   extensive documentation is not necessary, we had several people enter
>   without any at all that were otherwise excellent entries.
> 

Thanks for the report, Pug. It sounds like the brewing competition was a rousing
success! Your report makes me regret having missed Candlemas *that* much more.

Your raise an issue that has been the subject of (occasionally heated) debate:
documentation for A&S entries. There seems to be a trend towards putting more
emphasis on documentation than on the work itself. (I'm not picking on you or
this particular competition, you just reminded me of this ongoing debate, and
some of the "fallout" it has brought.)

An artisan recently put it to me something like this: "I'm an artisan. I make
things. I make them in a period style, using period methods as much as possible,
and with as much craftsmanship as I can. But, lately, I can't even get a
positive comment from the judges, let alone win a competition. All they want to
talk about is my documentation (or lack thereof). Someone beat me out who had
entered a simple, crude piece but had wonderful documentation. That person
wasn't an artisan, they were a scholar. They had done the research and published
it well, but they were no craftsman. I thought this competition was to choose
the best *artisan*, not the best *scholar*. If someone isn't qualified to
recognize quality period craftsmanship when they see it, why are they judging?"

This simple tale illustrates what I see as a growing problem in A&S judging, and
with A&S competitions in general. I have personally witnessed scenarios such as
the one described above, where stunning works of craftsmanship only got comments
like this: "Needs better documentation", with absolutely *no* mention of the
quality of the piece.

I don't know why this is the case, unless maybe the Laurelate is "on campaign"
to improve documentation, and so is emphasizing it in order to solve a problem.
Maybe, in some competitions, the workmanship is too good across the board to
judge a winner, and so the documentation is being used as a "tie-breaker". Maybe
judges feel they are too pressed for time to write positive comments, they only
have time to point out areas that need improvement. Or maybe it's this: many of
us who are called to judge are not qualified to judge the work, so we latch onto
what we *do* understand: the supporting documentation.

Like I said, I'm not sure what the cause of this trend is. It's probably many
factors, including those I mention above. But I would ask judges to remember to
write down positive comments as well as negative. At any given competition,
we're going to have plenty of first-time competitors. If we want them to enter a
*second* time, we need to remember they are human, and very vulnerable to harsh
criticism. And it seems to me that the work, not the documentation, should
determine the lion's share of the points. Documentation should get only a small
part of the score, in order to differentiate between otherwise masterly examples
of the artisan's craft. Of course, that requires us to find judges for our
competitions who can tell whether an 80% perfect gown is better than a 90%
perfect sword, or a 70% perfect lute. I know; that's a *very* tall order!

Just my two cents. What do *you* think?

In service,
Michael Silverhands
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