From MiddleWiki

The Middle Kingdom A&S Criteria is a set of documents defining certain expectations and requirements for judges to look for when judging A&S entries in an A&S Competition or A&S faire in order to award a score. Not all kingdoms have A&S Criteria and few have as detailed a set of criteria as ours. Some Kingdoms have a separate criteria for Novice entries. At this time, the Midrealm has one set of criteria for the faire.

Separate documents exist for each category in each of the five divisions. The divisions are Performing Arts and Letters, Textile and Needle Arts, Technological Sciences, Studio Arts and Sciences, and Domestic Arts and Sciences. An example of a Division and a category is that Performing Arts is a Division, European Dance is a category in that division and has its own document of judging criteria.

The current Criteria rates an entry on 30 possible points in six categories:

• Documentation (4 points)
• Authenticity or Methods and Materials (4 points)
• Scope (6 points)
• Skill (6 points)
• Creativity (4 points)
• Judge's Observations (6 points)

These are the placements for a Faire: First Place: 24.5 to 30 Points. Second Place: 18.5 to 24.4 Points. Third Place: 12.5 to 18.4 Points. Honorable Mention: 12.4 or fewer Points..

Entrants are highly encouraged to become aware with the criteria and the rules before entering a Regional A&S or Kingdom A&S faire.

The current Middle Kingdom A&S Criteria is available at: Middle Kingdom A&S judging criteria

Contents 1 History of the Criteria 2 Interpreting the Criteria as an Entrant 2.1 Documentation 2.2 Authenticity 2.3 Scope 2.4 Skill 2.5 Creativity 2.6 Judge's Observations 3 Interpreting the Criteria as a Judge 3.1 Documentation 3.2 Authenticity 3.3 Scope 3.4 Skill 3.5 Creativity 3.6 Judge's Observations 3.7 Dos and Don'ts

History of the Criteria

Like any good set of rules or guidelines, the Middle Kingdom A&S Criteria is a living document and frequently updated.

The original criteria documents were created by many dedicated and talented individuals, it has been revised and updated several times. Most recently a group of volunteers updated the criteria in the fall of 2003, then the editors took over and the revised critera was available by the end of 2005.

Dates and notes of major or partial revisions:

• First edition of Criteria
• First revision
• 1982
• 1987
• 1990
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999
• 2000
• 2003
• 2005 - major revisions, new categories for beadwork, glass work (other), casting, wood turning, rug and tapestry weaving.

Interpreting the Criteria as an Entrant

Remember, you are competing against the written criteria, not against other entrants. Also your judges may not know as much about your art or science as you do. The Judge will, however, be looking at the criteria to guide him/her. You, as an entrant, should be able to go through the criteria before the competition and gauge what score you are likely to recieve.

The Criteria is made up of several sections:

Documentation

While Documentation is only worth 4 points in the criteria, it affects how the judge is going to score just about every other category. The judge may not know as much about the specific art or science as you do; the Documentation is their source of answers to questions about that art.

Always make sure that your documentation is well organized and easy to read; frequently Judges will have a very limited amount of time to read your documentation and may miss important citations and sources if your documentation is poorly organized. While the criteria is mainly concerned with citations and use of sources for this category, many judges will mark down your documentation score for how well the documentation is presented.

Try to avoid copying the criteria word-for-word into your documentation; the Judge has a copy of the critera and does not need you to repeat it. Know the difference between a Primary Source and a Secondary Source.

Watch out for generalized statements such as "Red was a popular color in Europe at this time" that you do not have a reference to back up! When in doubt, make a citation. When you have multiple sources for a statement, choose the best source for your citation. Other sources you consulted, but did not make specific citations to, should still be listed in your bibliography or list of reference materials at the end of your Documentation.

Avoid getting side-tracked with antecdotal or autobiographical stories in your documentation; while these make fascinating reading they take time to read and can make it harder for the judge to find the facts they are looking for in your documentation. Ask yourself if the story really adds to the judge's understanding of the piece, if it does leave it in but be wary of the length.

In your documentation, you may want to discuss your own analysis of the finished item. Discuss observations of the process, areas of improvement, and what you learned from creating this item.

When you have completed your documentation, make sure to have someone look it over to see if it needs any more work. If they find typos or have questions about a section, fix it before it gets to the faire.

Authenticity

Authenticity, or as it is called in the newest revision of the Criteria "Methods and Materials" is worth 4 points of your total score. Your scoring in this category involves the materials you use, the methods in which you used them and how appropriate the end product is to the time period. Again, your documentation is very important for this category, as it helps to illustrate the process of creating the piece.

Scope

Scope is worth 6 points of your total score. Scope is about what you are attempting. Various factors that increase scope are the level of complexity of the piece, availablity of sources, number of elements, time required, etc.

Be aware if you are producing something fairly simple, that did not take much time or effort, you are likely to score low in scope. To increase this score consider the amount of time you have to devote to the project and ways that you can add to it; For example, using hand-made pigments and inks versus using purchased paints and inks.

Skill

Skill is worth 6 points of your total score. The skill score, like Scope, is tailored to the particular art or science. Skill determines how well you created the piece. You will be evaluated on how well the product is finished.

Creativity

Creativity is worth 4 points of your total score. Creativity is NOT the opposite of Authenticity; it is possible to score perfectly in both!

Judge's Observations

Jusge's Observations is worth up to 6 points of your total score. This is the "Wow" factor score and the only part of the criteria where the judge is allowed to let their opinion weigh in their judgement.

Interpreting the Criteria as a Judge

Documentation

Look for specific examples rather than general statements. Good citation of arguments and consistant reference to sources. Use of Primary sources (If Primary Sources are available).

Frequently judges will score entries down for lack of color pictures or putting the documentation into a binder. While organized documentation should score higher than disorganized or hard to read documentation; this is less important than citations and good analysis.

Authenticity

In the 2005 revised critera, this section has been re-named Methods and Materials.

The Methods and Materials score deals with the choices of materials and methods by the entrant. For some areas there are very little primary sources available and that should be taken into consideration when judging. For example, if there are no period writings about technique for the particular art most of the methods used by the entrant will have to be extrapolated.

Scope

Try not to look at the piece as it is, but what the entrant was envisioning from the start from what is written in their critiera. This section is used to determine the depth and breadth of the work.

Skill

This is the section where experience in the field of the entry is the most helpful. In this section, you are determining how well the entrant completed the piece.

Creativity

Creativity is *not* the opposite of Authenticity! Is this an original work? Did they do anything inovative or creative in the production? Did they have to fill in the gaps of missing sources with original thinking or experimentation?

Judge's Observations

This section is designed to cover how all the other sections fit together; what is the overall effect of the piece?

This is your one spot to let your personal feelings through; if you like the piece you're judging score high!

Dos and Don'ts

Do's

• Read the entrant's documentation thoroughly - The answers to any questions you may have may well be present in the documentation, but may not be obvious at first glance. Entrants frequently complain about being marked down for items that were explained in their documentation.
• Know the difference between a Primary Source and Secondary Source.
• Ask for help if you are not sure how to interpet a specific line or wording in the criteria
• Let the Faire coordinator know if you have any food allergies or aversion to alcohol when signing up to judge cooking or Brewing/Vinting entries
• Keep an open mind to new and different techniques and approaches.
• Make comments frequently; it is especially good to make a comment whenever you give a less than perfect score to answer the enevitable entrant's question "Why?"

Don'ts

• Judge an entry you are uncomfortable judging; it's okay to say no!
• Judge a project based on your own research. Personal research and/or experience with a project certainly aides in interpreting skill and scope and helps you give useful comments. However, entering into judging with predetermined ideas of how a project should have been done and/or how the final result should appear can result in you unfairly penalizing the entrant.