Judges & Judging Guidelines

["James Purchase" <jpurch@interlog.com>]

There seems to be a general concencus devoping quickly on both Judges and
Judging Guidelines.

Everyone seems to agree that it would be preferable to have several Judges,
of varying backgrounds - some with possible Art or Art Criticism training,
others with a more traditional aquarium background. Obtaining judges from a
variety of geographic areas, to reflect the International flavour of the
event, has also been well received. I am not seriously considering the
suggestion of celebrities - at least not those unconnected with our hobby.
Most others would probably wonder if they could smoke aquatic plants.

It is also generally agreed that we should put together some sort of Judging
Guidelines for use by the judges, stressing our desire that the main thrust
of our event is the artistry of the aquascape and not the mechanical
perfection of either the tank nor the photography. These Judging guidelines
should be general enough to permit the Judges sufficient scope and lattitude
to not feel constrained in voicing their true impressions and opinions but
should be detailed enough to act as a proper guide to someone who lacks much
background with aquascaping.

It has been suggested that a "technical advisor" from the AGA, be assigned
to each judge not familiar with aquascaping to help guide and advise the
judge in the carrying out of their tasks.

For the purpose of preparing our initial Proposal to the AGA MC, neither
issue needs further attention at this point in time. It should be sufficient
to say that we plan a multi Judge panel with the characteristics given above
and that a set of judging guidelines are to be formulated and passed to all
judges.

Very little attention has been paid to the issue of payment of the Judges
although I certainly hope that this is a non-issue and may be dismissed out
of hand.

Unless anyone else has something to add, or I've missed some point - I
suggest that we either call for volunteers/appoint someone to look after
both tasks. I'm not suggesting that a person begin contacting potential
Judges right now - just draw up a list of names. For the Judging Guidelines,
I think that several people will be needed - we can ask someone to start it
now, or set it aside and address it as a group later.

James Purchase
Toronto

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