by S.B. Richardson

I have officiated as a steward at many of the Open Shows in the South of England. I then turned my attention to the paperwork side and worked alongside the Show Secretary. This has given me a very broad view of what goes on when a major Budgerigar Show is staged.

When it comes to the Show season there is an obvious shortage of helpers at most of the Open Shows. It is the same old faces working at all of them along with a sprinkling of new ones. Show Managers have to work very hard in order to cajole and in some cases bully fanciers into helping. Many of the phone calls they make are from their own homes and I wonder how much personal expense they incur just so a show can be put on. To the newcomers and beginners do not be afraid to put your name forward, you will find that you will soon be put at ease and someone will help you understand what is going on. There is no denying that it is hard work and you are on the go all the time if you carry out your work diligently, but on the plus side you will make many new friends who all have one thing in common - The Budgerigar.

The following comments are not levelled at all stewards, obviously there are dedicated helpers who work continuously all day, but it is very apparent to me that many lose interest in their work once all the Colour Certificates have been awarded and the Best in Show has been selected. This could be due to one or two reasons. Firstly their birds have been beaten in the classes and therefore they are disheartened and lose interest. To these I would say there is always another Show. On the other hand we have those that do very well, possibly taking a Colour Certificate, Best Breeder, Best Opposite Sex or even Best in Show. In these cases they become the centre of attention and they can no longer concentrate on the job at hand. It is a difficult situation but if you do volunteer to steward, remember your work is only finished when the birds have gone and the staging is cleared away.

One-Day Shows Increase Workload

As one day shows are becoming increasingly popular, there will always be minor errors cropping up, mainly due to the increased workload in the reduced period of time. To all who criticise when things do go astray I put forward the following to ponder on. 'Much hard work goes into the preparation, staging and running of an Open Show, so instead of complaining when things do go wrong, put you name forward to help run the next show and try to prevent these errors happening. I can assure you that these mishaps do not occur because of carelessness but pressure of work. To others who cannot help for numerous reasons, but can attend the show for a limited time, do not be hasty to condemn. Always remember that all the officials are "UNPAID AMATEURS", they are not paid professional show organisers. They are a handful of dedicated fanciers who in between their family, birds and work commitments give freely their limited free time to try and put on a well organised show for the fancy.

Often when the birds are returned to the staging after judging they are not put back in the order of placing. This results in visitors having to search in order to find the second and third placed birds. It also makes it difficult to accurately assess the birds for yourself and can be very irksome especially in large classes.

Championship Show Procedure

Let us proceed with the last of my observations. I have come to the conclusion that the newcomers and beginners plus a few older fanciers, have no idea of the procedure for placing the awards at the principal shows. To put things right I have attempted to explain the methods. First let us look at what is required for a B.S. Championship Show.

Each judge is allocated certain colour classes to judge covering every status; Champion, Intermediate, Novice, Beginner. (Any Age and Breeder classes). Once he has judged all the classes of that colour series, all the class winners are put up and the Best of Colour is picked. This bird takes the Colour Certificate if a B.S. nominated bird, otherwise the highest placed B.S. nominated bird takes the Colour Certificate. However, the original first placed bird is still marked Best of Colour and this bird only is retained for the 'Best in Show’ run down. The judge also selects Best Opposite Sex to the Winner and Best Breeder (if a breeder has taken Best of Colour then Best Any Age is noted). These birds are retained to go forward for the main specials.

The remaining first winners are taken to the status holding areas, i.e. Champion Breeders, Intermediate Breeders, Novice Breeders, Beginner Breeders, Champion Adult, Intermediate Adult, Novice Adult, Beginner Adult.

Point to note concerning Juvenile exhibits. The Judge allocated to do this status always completes his classes first. The Juvenile exhibits then go forward to compete for their appropriate Best of Colour.

When all judges have completed their Best of Colour Selections, it is from these birds that the Best in Show is taken and the Best Opposite Sex to the Best in Show.

Finally all Best of Colour Breeders are put up and Best Breeder in Show is selected (if a Breeder is put up as Best in Show then the same procedure is adopted to find the Best Any Age if a Special is allocated).

Once these main specials are completed the Judges are now allocated the status sections to judge. All class winners in each status section are judged and placed; right down to the last bird. (Note - a bird that has been judged Best of Colour or Colour Certificate winner, cannot be beaten by a bird of the same colour series. In order to avoid confusion, the Best of Colour is usually denoted by a red dot being put on the cage front.) From these status 'run downs' it is easy to pick out all the remaining Specials, e.g. Best Champion A/A, 2nd Best Champion A/A, 3rd Best Champion A/A etc. Also, all the other Society Specials can be taken from these status section run downs.

Let us now look at the B.S. Certificates of Merit for Best Novice and Best Beginner exhibits. Once both Novice sections (A/A and Breeder) are completed the two section winners compete for the above awards. Same procedure applies to the Beginner award (Note: if the best A/A or Breeder has taken a Colour Certificate they cannot compete for this award and the next in the line up is brought up provided it to is not a C/C winner).

As most newcomers start exhibiting at the smaller shows, (i.e. non Championship shows) let us consider these.

Diploma And Rosette Shows

As there are no colour award certificates the birds are often judged in their classes. The status awards are decided by bringing all Class winners together in each status i.e. all Champion Classes (A/A and Breeders), all Intermediate Classes (A/A and Breeders), all Novice Classes (A/A and Breeders), all Beginner Classes (A/A and Breeders). These are judged down to the last bird and from this run down all the status Specials can be allocated.

The highest placed bird in each status goes forward for Best in Show. Once this is decided the highest placed Opposite Sex to Best in Show in each status competes for that award.

Original Version BW Issue 2

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