<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">In a message dated 7/2/2003 3:42:57 PM Central Standard Time, nikkicmiller@yahoo.com writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Hello Friends,<BR>
<BR>
I am in need of the same answers. One of our<BR>
Cantons is having it's first titled Bardic competion<BR>
next month and has asked me to help. I'm clueless. :)<BR>
<BR>
I would like to ask you what your most favorite<BR>
competition format is. This will be Glasyn's first<BR>
titled competition and I would like it to be fun,<BR>
entertaining, and something to build apon.<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Clare</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
The simplest is to have everyone do one or two pieces then have the judges pick a winner. This can be tough on the judges, especially if you have several performers who are very good and all well deserving of winning. <BR>
I came up with a format a few years ago that some bards like. Give all the Bards in the competition several tokens at a meeting in the morning. During the day the bards issue challenges to one another and wager tokens on the outcome. The challenge can be anything of a bardic nature and the bards decide amoung themselves who will judge the outcome. At the end of the day have another meeting and count the tokens. Have a final judged round from the three bards with the most tokens. This lets the bards get in as many performances as they like and allows the populace to participate in the bardic. If you use this format you need to limit the wagers to 1 token per challenge, and no more than 3 bards in any one challenge. This is necessary to prevent the bards who are way behind from wagering everything on one challenge just before the count and going from last place to first. <BR>
Kingdom Eisteddfhodd has used a double elimination tournament format in the past but this has been modified in the last few years because it can take a very long time if you have lost of people entered. Bards are paired off and perform, one advances and one recieves a loss. Two losses and you are out. This can lead to a competition that takes all day. I've never understood why that's considered a bad thing. <BR>
I've never seen it done but I would like to try a competition where the bards choose the winner. One way to do this would be for everyone to perform than have a secret ballot amoung the bards and if one person come out clearly ahead then they win, and if it's close than have the top 2 or 3 do another piece. <BR>
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Robert</FONT></HTML>