Organising Competitions

If your event is a crown event (a coronation or crown tourney), it needs a space and a coordinator for the Kingdom A&S Competition. The Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences, or your local A&S officer, should coordinate this.

If your event is NOT a crown event, you can still participate in the Kingdom A&S Competition by hosting the judging of local entries. You should work with your local A&S officer to make this happen.

 

Jobs for the Event Steward

  • Appoint an A&S competition coordinator. (Your local A&S officer can help with this)
  • Include a time for people to submit their entries, and for judges to judge them, in your timetable. (Make sure the judging starts several hours before court, so they have enough time.)
  • Set up tables where entries can be displayed and judged. Make sure the tables are available throughout the event, so the populace can view the entries.

The rest of these jobs are for the A&S Competition Coordinator. 

 

Before the event

  • Make announcements about the competition themes  to build interest in your group
  • Make sure the steward has provided a space for judging and a time in the schedule
  • Seek out potential judges – at least 2, preferably 3. If there are likely to be several entries (such as at the crown event itself), aim for 2-3 judges per theme. (See below for more advice)
  • Refresh your memory of the competition rules
  • Print sufficient copies of all the entry and judging forms
  • Supply pens

If your event is the crown event, you should also:

  • Organise three tokens for the winners: a gold bell on red, blue, and white ribbons for the winner of each category. It is common to also provide two or three runner-up tokens using silver bells. The KMoAS can likely provide tokens for each event.
  • Ask the herald for an item of business in court to announce the results
  • Shortly before the event, ask the KMoAS for a list of any early-judging results submitted.

 

Recruiting Judges

It’s best to organise your judges before the event, so that they know to allocate time on their day. Try asking the steward for a list of bookings and looking for people who might have knowledge relevant to the competition themes. They don’t need to be Laurels, although having at least one in three judges be a Laurel is good. The most important thing is making sure you have enough judges: it takes time to judge an entry, and the more entries you have, the more important it is to have different judges for each theme. The KMoAS can and should help you with recruiting judges, especially for the crown event itself. 

 

At the beginning of the event

  • Make sure there is space and time set aside for judging to take place
  • Put out entry forms, pens, and judging forms
  • Ask the herald to announce the competition
  • Be present at the competition table to answer any questions from entrants
  • Make sure judges are aware of the judging process if they’ve never done it before

Note: There is no minimum number of entries for judging to occur. Every entry must receive feedback. 

 

After the judging

  • Collate the scores on the competition report form
  • Make sure entries are secure, looked after, and labelled with the entrant’s name if being displayed further
  • If possible, with the entrants’ permission, take photos of the entries
  • Ask the herald to announce when entries can be collected
  • Make sure entries go back to the correct people, along with the filled-out judging forms

At a local event, you should also: 

  • If the judges believe any of the entries are worthy of acclaim, ask the herald for a time in court to announce the entrant’s name, the theme and category they entered, and how many points they received

If your event is a crown event, you should: 

  • Compare the results from the day’s judging (plus the results of any entries submitted to local A&S for pre-judging) to determine a winner for each category
  • If the category had enough entries, determine 1-2 runners up as well
  • Announce the results in court, and present tokens to the winner

 

After the event

If your event is a crown event, you should:

  • Tell the KMoAS who the winners and runners-up were in each category as announced in court, so that they can broadcast that announcement to the kingdom