standardized judging?

[P3D rmt <rmt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mark Dottle writes:
> I believe standardization of judging
>criteria,especially
>equipment, would play an important role in the enthusiasm of
>participants to submit images for
>judging. What are the groups thoughts on this?

People submit work for judging for various reasons - exercising a little 
harmless competitive instinct among them.  Part of the fun is trying to 
outwit the judges.  Example:  when I submit work to the Australian 
(Southern Cross) salon, I seldom (!) include views of kangaroos.  
However, views including snow-fields and waterscapes have done rather 
well.  

With experience, this specialization can be refined further.  I learned, 
to my regret, that a certain prominent stereographer who is on this 
list, and is a friend of mine, and is often called upon to judge salons, 
dislikes views of flowers.  As PSA Salon Rules require the judges to be 
named in the entry blank, I will not be submitting any more flower views 
to salons where _____ is judging.

I'm sure that similar games are played in other arenas - cats, old cars, 
preserves and pies at state fairs - It's well and good to recognize and 
eliminate biases in IQ tests and SATs, but in hobby competition, a 
little harmless fudging just spices things  up.

Dick Twichell


------------------------------