Part 3 of our Exhibition and Evaluation principles seemed generate a lot of interest, and based on the positive comments it sounds like we’re on the right track. Time for update 4! Take a look and let us know what you think.

Principle 6

Encourage the beginner, challenge the expert. Evaluation standards will scale with the creator’s skill level. Junior and Beginner modellers will be rewarded more frequently than Intermediate and Advanced modellers, and it will be extremely difficult to win a Gold at the Advanced or Masters skill levels. We think this is a good thing, as it encourages newcomers to the hobby while also challenging those with more skill and experience to achieve higher standards of craftsmanship and creativity. A modeller’s skill level will likely vary between classes, based on their experience and past performance in that class, and applying different standards to entries at each skill level should encourage modellers who have achieved high standards in one class to seek new challenges by expanding their work into other classes.

Principle 7

Feedback. Always. We believe the most important aspect of evaluating someone’s creative work is to provide meaningful, constructive feedback to the creator. All models submitted for evaluation will receive numerical criteria-specific scores and a total score. Any criteria score that isn’t perfect requires a constructive comment (and of course there’s no reason not to comment on a perfect score too). Comments can compliment good work or suggest possible improvements, but they should not suggest a specific creative style favoured by the Judge. We’re also looking at ways to make feedback more meaningful than simple text comments… perhaps digital audio feedback?


10 responses to “Exhibition & Evaluation Principles Part 4”

  1. Danny Ray Herron Avatar
    Danny Ray Herron

    The intent in being a judge, one needs to be knowledgeable, have some expertise, be unbiased and skilled in the areas in which they are judging. Now of course all of these areas are subjective. But it would stand to reason that the judge should have at least a working knowledge of the model(s) being judged. “Crawl walk run” perspective could be used by the perspective “judge”. Letting that person follow knowledge judges and learning from them. Or even the ideas of a journeymanship status. With a small logbook showing the dates/catagories/ level judged. I know this is a very hard area. One to get “qualified” judges, and trying not to alienate those who are still “lacking” as a full fledged judge….LOL – what ever that is! However, to actually get qualified judges requires honesty, hard work and a true dedication to the judging arena!

    1. Bruce Worrall Avatar

      Hi Danny,
      Agree 100% that judges need to be unbiased, and that they should have knowledge of the type of model that they’re judging. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to be master modellers… simply that they understand the way that we evaluate models. We’re developing a training and certification program to train and certify judges. It will include a combination of general online training, class-specific online training, and an experiential component.
      To allow new judges to gain experience and improve their skills gradually we’re looking at having two different levels – Basic Judges (who will be able to judge entries at the Junior, Beginner, and Intermediate skill levels) and Advanced Judges (who will be able to judge models entered at the advanced skill level).

  2. Greg Kittinger Avatar
    Greg Kittinger

    Curious to know how a modeler’s skill level is determined. Do they place themselves into a “level” or is there some type of assessment that judges use to make the placement? I have seen levels of “beginner, intermediate, and advanced” at certain IPMS shows, left to the modeler to rank, but am not sure how one would move from advanced to “master.”

    1. Bruce Worrall Avatar

      Hi Greg,
      At this point we’re envisioning Junior, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Masters.
      Other than Junior (where you need to be under 16 to enter) and Masters (which you have to earn) a modeller could pick whichever skill level they want in each class. The catch is that once you win a gold in a class at a skill level, you would have to move up to the next higher skill level in that class at future exhibitions (again, except moving from Advanced to Masters). This is the way AMPS does it.
      We’re still working out how someone would qualify for the Masters skill level. At this point we’re thinking someone who wins Best of Show at a larger exhibition would be named a Master in the winning model’s class, but this remains to be confirmed.

  3. Tracey-scott Hamlett Avatar
    Tracey-scott Hamlett

    Say the judges leave suggestions for improvement but you don’t quite get what they mean Would there be away of asking the judges for more information regarding what them mean also what if you wanted to challenge the mark you received from the judges how would that be handled

    1. Bruce Worrall Avatar

      Stay tuned for the next update for the answer 😉

  4. Ed Kubiak Avatar
    Ed Kubiak

    Feedback can be standardized as it is fairly common and consistent. Develop an AP or automated system to give consistent feedback with the ability to add more comments as required. Leave it to software developers to chime in and add more information on this but it would make judging easier IMO.

    1. Bruce Worrall Avatar

      Hi Ed.
      We’ll have word pictures built into the system that will provide very basic automatic feedback, but we’re also looking for our judges to add a personal touch.
      Only one model per modeller per class will be judged, which should lessen the evaluation workload and free up some time to allow the judges to write a few comments.

    2. Stew Brouillette Avatar
      Stew Brouillette

      Interesting… So could/would/should this morph into an opportunity to leverage a standard mobile device hosted app or a cloud hosted software databade that could be used by judges to log the judging feedback? Further along that line, after the judging process is complete and awards given/presented, entrants could then log in to view the feedback given on their entry and P.O.C. contact info provided for reaching back into the judging team?

      1. Bruce Worrall Avatar

        Hi Stew,
        Yes, and yes!

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