Re: [AISdiscuss] Handbook Revision

[Jandjcope@aol.com]

Hi,
We have had an experience with point scoring a show that you might  want to  
conceder before you decide on the revision. Along time ago, we  were asked to 
a judge a show in MIO, MI with an other judge who had been trained  with an 
earlier version of the hand book than the current one at the time. He  refused 
to give a blue to any specimen without a terminal flower in full bloom.  Rather 
than argue through the show, we decided to point score from the new  
handbook. We wrote the score on the tag and let the clerks give the ribbons.  This can 
be done fast after the first few cultivars. The secret is to not spend  any 
time on specimens with low scores. 
 
Mio, Mi is in a rural community and has some exhibitors who travel 100  miles 
to get to the show. You might think they have a small show but the  opposite 
is true. They have 200-300 specimens and a large youth section. They,  at the 
time, had their show on Farther's Day and the crowds line up to get into  the 
show after church. The Iris Show is what you do on Father's Day in Mio. I  
wish our show could get such a dedicated audience. 
 
That year STEPPING OUT was grown by all of the exhibitors and it was in  peak 
bloom. We had decided to give a blue ribbon to 90 points and  above but we 
could only give one blue ribbon per class. The result was that  some 95 point 
specimens were getting red or even white ribbons. When it came  time to pick 
Best in Show and the court, we just went to the highest scores.  This was easy 
but resulted in some red ribbons on the court and with the youth  court, too, 
there were 4 STEPPING OUTs on the court. Since the show is to  show the public 
what a good iris should look like, this show looked like there  were only a few 
good iris. 
 
You may know that the reason for the loose-leaf form of the Handbook, is so 
the revisions could be easily made and not need a new book. I am not  in favor 
of revising the whole book. At least in part because if a new page  comes to 
be exchanged with an old page, the judge will read the new page and  remember 
the changes. When there is a new book, most of us don't sit down and  read it 
from cover to cover. There may be JT on the new book but not all judges  will 
take it. It seems to me this will result in uneven judging. 
 
I think if point scoring were a requirement, we would need to give  more than 
one blue ribbon per class if merited. And this, while more fair to the  
exhibitor it makes our statement to the public too narrow. The show is for the  
public not the exhibitor.
 
Best Wishes,
Jill Copeland

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to the AIS Secretary
Pat Randall <patannran@msn.com>
The archives for AISDiscuss are at:
http://www.aisboard.org/lists/aisdiscuss/