Subject: Digest for the period 5/15/2006 - 5/16/2006 Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 01:02:06 -0400 Table of contents ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Call for Judges & Stewards 2nd round NHC in Orlando, FL June 22-23 (Don Ferris) 2. Re: lousy beers/judges (Mike Dixon) 3. Re: lousy beers/judges, CEP (Spencer W. Thomas) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Don Ferris Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 21:16:37 -0400 Subject: Call for Judges & Stewards 2nd round NHC in Orlando, FL June 22-23 Call for Judges and Stewards at the 2nd Round of the National Homebrew Competition! Held in conjunction with the AHA’s National Homebrew Conference in Orlando, FL 22-24 June 2006 (lots of pre-conference events schedule fore 21 June! See www.beertown.org for additional details) Come be part of the largest Homebrew Competition in the World! You will be helping to determine the “best of the best” of 20+ entries in 27 categories. Each entry has already placed in the top three in its qualifying region and had to score at least 30 points (many >40 points) just to be in this phase of the competition! Sessions will be held Thursday Morning, Thursday Afternoon, and Friday Morning. If you would like to Judge or Steward please send the following information to judges`at`flbrewer.org or stewards@flbrewer.org respectively: Last Name First Name Preferred Name or Nickname BJCP # (if applicable, even if just planning to steward) BJCP Rank (if applicable) Categories eligible to Judge or Steward Categories ineligible to Judge or Steward (i.e., you have an entry in the 2nd round of the NHC’s) Categories you would prefer to Judge or Steward Categories you would not prefer to Judge or Steward Time periods you would prefer not to judge (i.e. there is a presentation you would like to attend) State you live in (Will be used to try and ensure each panel has regional diversity) Your homebrew club (if applicable, for statistical purposes to see how many different clubs are represented) email address (or other means of contacting you) Also ensure you have registered for the National Homebrew Conference (Deadline for early discount is 15 May) If you have already contacted me about judging, you are “on the list” Look forward to seeing you in Orlando! Don Ferris Dani Parris-Exline NHC 2nd Round Judge Coordinator NHC 2nd Round Steward Coordinator Space Coast Associates for the Space Coast Associates for the Advancement of Zymurgy (SAAZ) Advancement of Zymurgy (SAAZ) www.saaz.org www.saaz.org judges`at`flbrewer.org stewards@flbrewer.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mike Dixon Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 08:18:29 -0400 Subject: Re: lousy beers/judges > From: Dave Blumenthal > 1) If the beers in a particular flight are all duds, is there a > rule/standard guiding whether any beer should be awarded 1st place >(and advance to BOS), or other award? The answer is maybe. I ran our competition many years ago and tried to put a score of 35 as the limit in order to make it to the BOS. People were outraged but as the competition organizer I held true to that score. All first place finishers in the comp exceeded that score and we removed the rule, probably forever. IMO if it was not clear in the entry packet/rules that places might not be awarded or that a certain score must be exceeded than the award must be given and the beer advance to the BOS. I don't really see a problem with that. If the beer truly was not deserving of a BOS spot, it will quickly be eliminated. If the judges were just being overly critical of the flight then the BOS round should sort that out. Now, each competition is different and I have heard of flights with places not being awarded, but I belive that is in poor form unless announced to the entrants prior to the competition. > 2) If a particular judge is judging overly harshly or inconsistent with > style, what recourse does an organizer have? An organizer and a head judge can ask that judge to reconsider the beers and the flight. If the judging is poor enough they could withold the judging points and could have the flight judged again but that might not allow any beer in the flight to advance to BOS if it was a two bottle comp. However if the judge is a novice then the more experienced judge at the table should guide the other person to a proper score and critique. Not filling out the sheet is just as bad as being harsh and/or inconsistent. Cheers, Mike Dixon Wake Forest, NC BJCP National ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Spencer W. Thomas Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 09:07:31 -0400 Subject: Re: lousy beers/judges, CEP > 1) If the beers in a particular flight are all duds, is there a > rule/standard guiding whether any beer should be awarded 1st place (and > advance to BOS), or other award? > This is at the discretion of the competition organizer and the judges. If the organizer did not make it clear to you what the rules are, you should ask. If all the beers are awful, then I'm fully on board with recommending that the competition not award prizes. I've judged in comps where 1st place was not awarded in a category, or where 3rd place was not awarded, or where no beers were awarded placement in a category. Luckily, this circumstance has become rarer in recent years. Some comps have a minimum score required to receive an award, in which case it's an easy decision. > 2) If a particular judge is judging overly harshly or inconsistent with > style, what recourse does an organizer have? > Don't use that judge again? Pair the judge with an assertive, experienced judge who can gently (or perhaps not so gently) guide them in the "right" direction. I guess the organizer has the right to remove the judge from the competition on the spot, if the situation is bad enough. With regards to "no retroactive CEP points", it seems clear -- you can't "continue" your "education" until you've got a standing of some sort to continue from. For those who haven't taken the exam, the CEP events will be valuable education towards the day when they do take the exam. =Spencer in Ann Arbor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** Important Subscriber Information ***** To post a message to JudgeNet, send it to judge`at`synchro.com. Send plain text only, no HTML, MIME, encoded text or attachments. Make sure you use a meaningful subject. Quote only as much material as is needed for context. To manage your subscription, go to http://synchro.com/judge/subscriptions.html or send an email to judge-request`at`synchro.com with the subject: help judge. JudgeNet is also available as an NNTP newsgroup, go to news://news.synchro.com/synchro.judge