Lochac A&S competition judging scheme

Lochac’s A&S competitions use a judging scheme which awards points across a set of categories, or judging criteria. This scheme allows different types of entries to be fairly compared across the Kingdom.

This page explains the categories and how points are allocated within them. The schema to do this is called a “rubric”, and the Lochac A&S competition judging rubric provides guidance on how many points to allocate in each category.

There are five categories, and each entry will get a score between 1-10 for each category. The categories are:

  1. Workmanship
  2. Authenticity
  3. Interpretation
  4. Complexity
  5. Documentation

A perfect score in each category would give the entrant a 50/50 – i.e., the maximum points, per judge, is 50.

The total score per entrant is the average of each of the judge’s scores out of 50.

If you are a judge, or thinking about judging, then you might also want to look at how to judge a competition.

Lochac A&S Competition Judging Rubric

How to use the rubric: As a judge you should consider which statement best fits the entry you are judging. Then decide if the entry is a good example of that statement. If so award it the top possible score for that statement, otherwise award it the lower of the possible scores. The rubric is printed on the Competition Scoring and Feedback form.

Workmanship

The workmanship element of the rubric asks the question: “Did you make a quality item?”

1-2 obvious major flaws or failure at attempted technique
3-4 obvious flaws, problems with attempted technique
5-6 some flaws, developing level of technical skill
7-8 very minor flaws, good level of technical skill and attention to detail
9-10 no discernible flaws, high level of technical skill and attention to detail and finish

Authenticity

The authenticity element of the rubric asks the question: “Is it like a thing a person in period would recognise?”

0 no attempt at authenticity
1-2 minimal attempt at authenticity, very obviously non-period materials, techniques or design elements
3-4 some attempt at authenticity, effort made to include some period materials, techniques or design elements
5-6 moderate attempt at authenticity, effort made to include and combine period materials, techniques and/or design elements
7-8 strong attempt at authenticity, majority of materials, techniques and design elements are authentic
9-10 uses authentic materials, techniques and equipment in producing an entry that as a whole is highly authentic

Interpretation

The interpretation element of the rubric asks the question: “how have you used available evidence to reach conclusions and then execute them?”

0 no attempt made to explain method and materials used
1-2 provides minimal information about how the item was constructed and/or about the materials used, with no reference to sources.
3-4 provides basic explanation of how the item was constructed and about the materials used. Some insight into their design choices, but without reference to sources
5-6 provides basic explanation regarding how the item was made and about the materials used, with limited reference to the sources. Information about design decisions/ substitutions is incomplete or not adequately supported by the evidence provided.
7-8 provides detailed explanation of why particular materials and methods were used, with more extensive reference to primary and secondary sources to justify design decisions/ substitutions. Some aspects of the explanation or use of the evidence are missing/unclear.
9-10 provides a clear, comprehensive and well-justified explanation of the method and materials used, and presents a fully-referenced argument in support of design decisions, including any substitutions made.

Complexity

The complexity element of the rubric asks the question: “how difficult was the thing to make?”

1-2 requires simple, singular process to produce the entry
3-4 uses a couple of stages or different techniques in the creation of the entry
5-6 multiple stages or techniques are used to produce the entry, requires competence
7-8 requires mastery of the technique, a number of stages and techniques are used in creating the entry
9-10 very ambitious project, combines a number of different, and difficult, techniques and stages in creating the entry

Documentation

The documentation element of the rubric asks the question: “do you understand what you did and why you did it?”

0 no documentation
1-2 identifies period and place relevant to the entry
3-4 places the entry in its historical context, describes some basis for creation of the entry
5-6 uses some sources to begin discussion of the item and its creation
7-8 uses a range of sources, both secondary and primary, to discuss the item in terms of its context and the evidence behind the creation of the entry
9-10 a scholarly level of analysis and discussion, using primary and secondary sources, with a detailed discussion and sustained argument providing the basis for the creation of the entry