In the latest newsletter (January), I alluded to the form of our current annual campetition, and how it rewards consistency, rather than brilliance, and I invited comment. It occurs to me that this forum is one place where such comments could be aired and debate begun.
I realise that not everyone in the club is on#line, and that many of those that are do not feel entirely comfortable with things like this discussion forum, but I think it's still worth a try!
Gentlemen (and any ladies present) . . . . the floor is yours!
I am curious as to how the junior class is judged. It strikes me that we have a range of talents, from maybe the age of say, eight years old, right up seventeen years old. This must make it an almost impossible task for the judges to score! I feel that this class is too generic in nature, and maybe some consideration should be given to breaking down either the age groups, subject matter, or experience/skill ratings.
Young members of a modelling club (such as yours) are easy to assess, as you will see their work and progress on a regular basis. In open competition however, things are different. You know little or nothing about the 'guest' enterant...how good is he/she?, is the fair work their own?, is the standard of work too high/low for their age?, etc. In these circumstances, it may be tempting to look towards work you do know, such as known members, although I am sure that this is not the case with your particular club.
One solution may be to pre-register (if possible) the jounior model entries (whilst still not trying to discourage the 'bring on the day' modellers), so that you may have some advanced information to work with. Such information could be gleaned in the form of a questionaire, providing such details as experience, age and model detilas. This may enable you to find out what skill level of modeller you are likely to encounter, and carry out informed scoring accordingly. An incentive for this particular class, notwithstanding the need to raise club funds, would be to make model entry free. I welcome other modellers thoughts and views on this subject.
You're absolutely right - for the 'Junior' section of any competition, a truly 'level playing field' is not appropriate.
Within the confines of our four-round 'in-house' competition, the issue seldom arises. We no longer (sadly) have any junior members. When we did, he was very nearly a senior, and his modelling output could be judged alongside that of his seniors without disadvantaging him at all.
HBowever, at our annual show - The Newark Expo - there is a thriving junior entry. We attempt to make this as fair as possible in three ways :
a) For junior entries, the age of the entrant is added to the card placed next to the entry on the table. This enables the judges to assess the quality of the work against the age of the entrant.
b) There is no recommended judging procedure for the junior class. We use judges that we trust, and leave them to exercise their judgement.
c) Every entrant in the Junior Classes receives a certificate of entry and achievement, and - sponsors willing - a free kit.
So far, we have not had any problems with the junior classes at the show, so the system appears to work.
I hope this has been of help. Thanks for visiting our forum.
Ian Crawford
(Club Secretary, CC&BW and General Dogsbody)
I personaly think the present club competition scoring system is sound as it gives everyone in the club a fair chance at gaining club champion or 2nd place in the competition as a whole,while the high scorers in the individual rounds get 1st place or even model of the year.Nobody is discouraged from entering because of high standards and everyone gets a chance.The only thing that I would like to see changed is a trophy or certificate for 2nd place and maybe 3rd as well in each individual round as these positions are often only a few points or so behind the winner and receive no recognition.where as someone may gain Club champion but not have scored a 1st,2nd or maybe even 3rd in any of the rounds.I realise that the problem with this is funds for trophys or certificates but it surely isn't a lot?the advantage I see is individuals within the club entering the competition more often because they have gained these positions in the past but could get some recognition for their work.Plus those who only enter 1,2 or 3 models through the year would have a much better chance of some club recognition.Also 2nd and 3rd places in the rounds have been pretty well spread across the membership [Figures,aircraft and vehicles]just look at the past results.
So what do you think? Leave everything as it is but add 2nd and 3rd place awards in the individual rounds,probably certificates as I think they are cheaper than trophys.Just an idea.
p.s. Thought I'd join in instead of just reading the messages and replys as I think many of us do when we have a look at this forum.
Cheers.
I personaly think the present club competition scoring system is sound as it gives everyone in the club a fair chance at gaining club champion or 2nd place in the competition as a whole,while the high scorers in the individual rounds get 1st place or even model of the year.Nobody is discouraged from entering because of high standards and everyone gets a chance.The only thing that I would like to see changed is a trophy or certificate for 2nd place and maybe 3rd as well in each individual round as these positions are often only a few points or so behind the winner and receive no recognition.where as someone may gain Club champion but not have scored a 1st,2nd or maybe even 3rd in any of the rounds.I realise that the problem with this is funds for trophys or certificates but it surely isn't a lot?the advantage I see is individuals within the club entering the competition more often because they have gained these positions in the past but could get some recognition for their work.Plus those who only enter 1,2 or 3 models through the year would have a much better chance of some club recognition.Also 2nd and 3rd places in the rounds have been pretty well spread across the membership [Figures,aircraft and vehicles]just look at the past results.
So what do you think? Leave everything as it is but add 2nd and 3rd place awards in the individual rounds,probably certificates as I think they are cheaper than trophys.Just an idea.
p.s. Thought I'd join in instead of just reading the messages and replys as I think many of us do when we have a look at this forum.
Cheers.
The certificates for placings in each individual round sound like a good idea to me, allied to trophies for 2nd and 3rd places in the ANNUAL 'Model of the Year' competition. This should go a long way towards recognising the 'one-brilliant-model-every-3-months' modeller, as well as the 'model-a-month' journeyman.