Re: Emeritus Judges, Urgent

[cemahan@aol.com]

I, for one, think the current criteria for judges are perfectly fine. As one responsible for getting a number of people nominated for emeritus judge, I can tell you what it takes. 



1) One person who believes another person deserves it and is willing to write a nomination letter and contact other judges asking them to write letters supporting the nomination. I always included a copy of my nomination letter as an attachment. 



2) I asked the other judges to let me know if they would do it and, if they would, to address their letter to the Chairman of Judges BUT TO SEND?THE LETTERS?TO ME. (Many people mean to do it, but forget...so you have to keep on top the process. 



3) When I had collected?enough letters I then sent my nomination letter and the support letters to the Chairman of Judges.? 



What it takes is one person who thinks another person deserves recognition and then to do the work.? 


-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Pries <robertpries@embarqmail.com>
To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
Sent: Fri, Sep 18, 2009 8:36 am
Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] Emeritus Judges, Urgent




O heartily agree with almost all that Jim says about criteria. I wpuld really
like to seem changes in our types of judges that could be based more on merit
and knowledge and not just showing up. But even given a higher standard, I
believe we are still remiss in the number of very good master judges who
deserve this honor. Because we are an aging society the number of emeritus
should be expected to be much higher than it is because we have such a
dedicated experienced group. The numbers I would see if our present system was
being fairly applied may seem high to some when they forget our membership is
declining and we have not been adding as many judges and master judges to
balance those that have been around for so long. According to our present
criteria it boggles my mind that a master judge can have a distinguished
service award and yet not be raised to emeritus judge. We have several such
people. I would love to see an overhaul of our judging categories that
emphasize knowledge and merit, This type of validation is what has made the
master gardeners a huge fast growing plant society. But until we redesign our
system I would like to see what we presently have function well.

----- Original Message -----
From: MORRISJE1@aol.com
To: aisdiscuss@aisboard.org
Sent: Friday, September 18, 2009 2:19:21 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [AISdiscuss] Emeritus Judges, Urgent

In a message dated 9/17/2009 5:15:04 A.M. Central Standard Time,
robertpries@embarqmail.com writes:

It takes  three people to care
enough to write a letter to nominate a master judge to  be raised to
emeritus.
In recent years there have been few nominations.  Indeed just glancing at a
rooster of master judges I see more than a dozen  that have performed as
much
or more service to their region or the national  than some of the current
emeritus judges. Is our laziness stronger than our  caring? You have until
the
end of the month to send Judy Keisling a letter.
I don't believe it is laziness as much as it is a poor set of  criteria.
The Han
dbook for Judges and Show  Officials states,  "This honor is given to
judges who have  rendered outstanding service to the Society.  It also
states, "That a  nominating letter is sent to the Chairman of Judges and must
contain a full  statement of the nominee's record of service to the AIS and be
supported by  written statements of endorsement from four fully accredited
judges, at least  two of whom must be from outside the nominee's region."
The Handbook goes  on to say, "Appointment as Master [Emeritus] judge is based
on service at  the national level that goes far beyond the expected
conscientious performance  as an AIS judge.  To be considered for appointment,
one
should be a judge  whose leadership and dedication to the ideals of the
Society are of genuine and  obvious distinction."

We already have an award for "outstanding service to the Society," it is
the Distinguished Service Medal.

My opinion on criteria for Emeritus Judge is that it should be an  award
for the outstanding quality and quantity of one's judging  ability, skill and
performance -- not service.

Does the judge have a thorough knowledge of irises?  Does he/she grow  a
representative collection of iris types that can be grown in his/her area and
adds some new varieties each year?  Does he/she visit other gardens each
year?  Does he/she visit local area hybridizer's gardens to evaluate
seedlings?  Does he/she visit these gardens more than once in a two-year  time
period?  Does he/she give freely of their time and money to perform  their
judging duties?  Does he/she teach Judges' Training classes?   How often? In
various regions and areas of the country?  Does he/she attend  Judges'
Training
classes?  Does he/she tutor apprentices in garden  judging?  Does he/she
judge Iris Shows?  When was the last time they  did so?  Does he/she judge all
types of irises and sections of the Iris  Show?  Does he/she enter Iris
Shows regularly to maintain their familiarity  with the process of selecting,
transporting and grooming irises?  Continued  refusal 
to judge shows when
invited to do so is neglect of duty, as is failing  to vote the Official
Ballot.
 I have personal knowledge of one nationally  known hybridizer who refuses
to judge all types of irises exhibited in a show as  "not being qualified to
judge certain types."  My contention is that  all judges are qualified to
judge any type of iris if they are conscientious and  use the AIS criteria
established for the iris types in the Handbook for  Judges and Show Officials.

Awards are important to any organization.  Criteria should be  also.  As an
Emeritus Judge, I contend that the criteria for this award is  woefully
lacking in detail and succinctness.

Jim  Morris

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