When you are competing, and there are only 3 awards to be given out and you don't get one for your masterpiece, you may not have he self awareness to realize there was simply better work on the table that day. Therefore,judging was incompetent or biased. As long as we have events where my product will be judged against yours or a standard, there's a likelihood that someone will get their paints all in a bunch if they don't win. There will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth on the aftermath.

Another way would be to democratize the process...

People's choice rewards WOW factor, not excellence.

I am surprised by some of the comments. I can see that bias is something which is nearly unavoidable. If you are a member of a club and you enter the comp. you are amongst fellow members, of course some bias will appear. I don't belong to a club, (kitmaker is my club)I entered a comp. in Scotland for the 1st time this year. I was welcomed by the host club, and they let me display my models on their tables. In the comp. I won 1st and 3rd in the diorama section in which members had models entered, and won 3rd in figures. I was amazed by the comments for my 1st award, and it just missed out on best in show, which was won by a club member from another club not the host club. Maybe it was a one off,or maybe the club is very fair, but I will continue to take my stuff along to the comps.

...importation of guest judges who can remain totally impartial. The largest barrier to this is cost: experts are expensive.

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People's choice rewards WOW factor, not excellence. We used to have that at our show many years ago...a big sailing ship with gaps you could drop a quarter through took the award.

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Al... true but even I (who supports and is a member of the local IPMS Fresno group), have a serious issues with the *way* judging is done for IPMS competitions. For example; From what I understand of the rules if a model is attached to a base then judges cannot potentially see all of the underside of a model. However if it is not they can pickup the model and examine it from all angles. If a seam or error is detected on the not normally visible parts of the underside... bam! entry eliminated from potential medal award (assuming there are more than 3 entries without errors). I just find the whole system a bit odd. By that kind of standard a Shep Paine diorama might have been eliminated in favor of a diorama of a perfectly done Sherman tank sitting in a field with a tree next to it.

Probably why he led the way to bring a different methodology to assigning awards at shows or competitions.

Cheers,
Jim

Luciano, I really don't agree with the philosophy that one has to be a able to build to contest standards in order to have the knowledge/expertise to judge. One really has nothing to do with the other. It's like appreciating
gourmet cooking vs McDonalds.

Joel

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Luciano, I really don't agree with the philosophy that one has to be a able to build to contest standards in order to have the knowledge/expertise to judge. One really has nothing to do with the other. It's like appreciating
gourmet cooking vs McDonalds.

Joel

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Joel at this show it's a case of in your words gourmet judging gourmet as there are no McDonalds/Burger King/Wimpy/other fast food outlet entries, even the junior entries put my work to shame. I walk along the tables looking at all the entries and there is no way I could judge this event without having a very good knowledge of painting techniques. I look at the figures and I'm just blown away at what's been done so without a knowledge of the techniques I'd find it very hard to judge this show.
So to see that the judges can talk the talk as well as walk the walk I feel is important, but I'll concede that it does not work for all shows.

I'll add in a little of my 2 cents (or p, or Euro....etc).

As I don't attend IPMS competitions--I'm only competing against myself in my builds--I'm not sure if this is already being done but, why not make it so that judges have to annotate what has disqualified a model, or why it placed where it did? If the flaws are there, then that's the end of it; if it's apparent to more than a few that the annotated 'flaws' are hogwash, well then you know the judging is hogwash.

I'll add in a little of my 2 cents (or p, or Euro....etc).

As I don't attend IPMS competitions--I'm only competing against myself in my builds--I'm not sure if this is already being done but, why not make it so that judges have to annotate what has disqualified a model, or why it placed where it did? If the flaws are there, then that's the end of it; if it's apparent to more than a few that the annotated 'flaws' are hogwash, well then you know the judging is hogwash.

Couple things here…this is a common complaint of newbies at shows. Unless the winners were identified by name tags or club shirts, how do you know they were club members? The modeling community is very small, those who join clubs a small part of that, as is the number of those who choose to compete. In any given geographic area, modelers who compete will pretty much know many of the others who compete. And yes, many of the same people win awards at any show they attend. Why? Favoritism? Not likely. The fact is, a good modelers will win over a mediocre modeler every time.

Further, many club members only attend their own show. In my club, maybe 10% of the membership regularly goes to other shows in the region, but at least 50% enter our contest.
I have crunched numbers over these kinds of complaints. If there were 20% of the entries from any given club, about 20% of the awards went to members of that club.About 50% of the entries are typically from non-affiliated entrants. Guess what? About 50% of the awards typically go to neon affiliated entrants.

In our own eyes, every piece we produce is a masterpiece and deserving of best in class, best in category and best in show. The internet reinforces that, especially those sites where anything posted gets an attaboy and any constructive criticism is seen as nit picking.

IPMS membership does not require membership in a local club. Most local clubs, even IPMS affiliates, do not require IPMS membership, though some do.

A few years ago I correctly predicted which two modellers would come away with Gold/Silver/Bronze in the 1:48th Aircraft category,( One taking Gold and Bronze, the other taking Silver) at an IPMS Show/Competition.
Nothing unusual in that I hear, but I made the prediction before we even got to the event!