Card judging

[P3D rmt <rmt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Curious Carole from California asks about stereo card judging - I can 
describe the system worked out by Chairman Bill Walton and me for the 
First International Stereo Card Exhibition of the Stereoscopic Society 
of America.  The judging took place in the lobby of the Rochester 
Convention Center during the NSA Convention in summer '96.  The judges: 
 Paul Wing, Larry Moor, and Stan White.  Judges sat on one side of a 
long table with their backs to the western windows to illuminate the 
cards from sunlight coming over their shoulders.  Each judge was 
assigned a recorder, who used a book prepared for that purpose 
containing each entry number and who sat across the table from "his" 
judge.  Each judge was supplied with a Keystone viewer, but judges were 
generally observed to freeview the entries.

As a card was inspected, the recorder, sitting opposite the judge, 
observed the entry number on the back of the card.  Judges did not look 
at the reverse sides, thereby preserving anonymity.  As each judge 
called out the scores, the recorders entered the numbers in the correct 
lines of the scorebooks.

Later, the scores were collated in a 4th book and totalled. As the 
entries were divided into thirds, the judges exchanged piles of cards 
when they were finished with the set they were working on. After the raw 
scores were recorded, the judges conferred about  special awards, etc.  
At their option, they chose "judge's choice" awards individually - that 
is, each judge bestowed one without consulting the others.

The process took several hours probably due mostly to the diligence the 
judges gave to the task.  As one of the recorders, I was most impressed 
with the serious effort bestowed by those three Stereo Giants.  I was 
also very grateful that the other two recorders, Bill Patterson and John 
Baker, put in still more time mounting the exhibition for display in the 
Trade Fair venue.  My other duties prevented me from assisting with 
that.

All this reminds me that it is time to think about entering the 2nd 
International, with a closing date of Oct. 18.  Entries available from 
Chairman Walton, 3739 Meadowlark Dr., Columbus, GA 31906.

Dick Twichell


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