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Subject:Re: STC competition judges From:Ann Balaban <annb -at- DADD -dot- TI -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 1 Feb 1994 13:32:35 CST
Randy Allen Harris writes:
> Rather than complain about the level of judging (those of you who have been
> doing so), why don't you raise the standard by simply volunteering
> yourself?
I was a judge in the 1993 competition and I think that my team of judges
did an excellent job of evaluating the entries we were assigned. Three
people on our team made a fair and extensive evaluation of the entries we
were assigned. We tried to explain all of our evaluations and point out what
was, in our opinion good and in need of improvement in our category. We also
succeeded in persuading the other judges that a plain black and white (but
very well done) quick reference guide deserved to be Best of Show over some
well prepared and slick magazines and other entries. We proved that you
don't have to have a lot of money to do full-color printing.
The reason the person from Compaq is satisfied with the evaluations they
received is that they came from the Dallas chapter. We have a binder that
outlines how we should evaluate each category and overall, what to look for,
what should be included in the category and many other procedures that are
outlined very clearly. After evaluating the entries on our own for two months,
the judges met for one Saturday in December and compared evaluations
as a team and decided on the overall ratings. We had pages of comments, not
just a few words. We really looked at these books. We didn't just flip
through the pages.
This procedure resulted in fair and informative judging. I'm sorry but
I can't say the same for the judges' evaluations that were returned to us.
For a professional organization, I think this procedure needs a lot of work
in some chapters, and is disouraging to participants. Why bother to enter
if you're just going to get a blank sheet of paper with some numbers circled
and no feedback?
Ann Balaban annb -at- dadd -dot- ti -dot- com
Texas Instruments
