Since I started showing I have heard repeatedly that we need more judges. We need more qualified judges. And yet there are now things from NAMHSA that might severely limit who can judge.
This year, I was nominated to judge at Breyerfest Open. It is cool to be nominated and was cool to be chosen as one of the performance judges. I was sent a lot of material shortly before the show. I am a rule follower, and I like to be informed, so I read through all the information, and watched the video Michelle sent, so I would know what to expect from a show I had never even attended and so I would know any Breyerfest-specific rules. I did notice the packet said that showers could not use any tack, dolls, or props made by the judge. What? I have been judging for close to 20 years and I have NEVER heard this before. So, I emailed Michelle to ask about it. She asked if I thought I could be unbiased about entries that had my dolls in them and I said of course, I have been doing it for years. It seemed like everything would be fine and things would go on as they had at every show I have judged at. But I was wrong.
Shortly after I started emailing with Michelle, I received an email from NAMHSA that upset me. It was condescending at times and accusatory at others. Here is a bit of that email, which started with a copy of the rule in question.
A person may not show and judge in the same division at a NAN qualifying show. A division is defined as one or more grouped classes such as "OF Breyer Plastic", "Custom Glazed", or "OF Performance". A judge may not judge any model that he/she has worked/collaborated on. A judge may not judge any model which he/she owns or has owned within the last six months. A judge may not judge models owned by relatives of the judge, as defined in subsection (f) above. A judge may not judge any models owned by any individual who co-owns one or more models with that judge.
I understand there might be confusion on if a performance item such as a doll counts as a model, so I wanted to reach out and clarify that yes, all performance items are included in performance judging and thus may not be created by the judge.
I also noticed that it was mentioned you had previously judged entries with your dolls at other shows. At the moment we're choosing not to make any inquiries and post-show invalidations to NAN qualifier status, provided this was an honest misunderstanding and doesn't continue to occur in the future.
I really don't like to be talked down to. I wasn’t sure if I was overreacting, or reading it with a tone that wasn’t there, so I asked several people, many who are not involved in the hobby, and everyone agreed that yes, it was condescending and/or accusatory.
I asked a friend who had been a part of NAMHSA for a very long time (though not in a long time) if this had always been the interpretation of the rule, and she said she had never seen that rule interpreted that way.
I was told, before the show, that the good news is that dolls are not required to show in performance. I am aware of that, but I am also a doll maker. Why would I want to hurt my customers in that way? Or my business. I have made, quite literally, thousands of dolls for the hobby. Quite a few people I know only have dolls that I made. Now I was finding out that they couldn’t use them? At least not in anything I am judging. At Breyerfest Open, that meant the English divisions. At a local show, that would mean all of performance. And if this had always been the rule, that meant that all the hosts of all the shows I judged performance at had willfully ignored the rule. I don’t believe that for a second.
I have studied special education law (and the law is the law) and if something isn't spelled out as a rule, or part of the rule, it’s not a rule. I was told that this was a common interpretation of the rule for decades, but almost everyone I spoke to had never heard it interpreted in this way. And really, if it’s not spelled out how can people be penalized for not following it?
I have a lot of issues with this rule that supposedly includes tack, dolls, and all props as “models.” It would mean if the judge made something as simple as a flowerpot you could not show under them. At least not with that flowerpot. That sounds utterly ridiculous to me. If you think I am reaching and being ridiculous on purpose, you're right. The way the rule was "explained" to me it includes ALL props; dolls, tack and props. Which means even the smallest thing in your entry can't be created by the judge. Which means if I even made a small prop (which, I do make plenty of things other than just dolls) either the shower can't use them, or I can't judge the entry. And I have done a lot in this hobby, including prepping models for painters. Which pretty much excludes me from judging ANYTHING, other than OF halter, at any time. I am not qualified to judge OF halter.
As a judge, I judge what is on the table. I start with safety, move on to correctness, and then the cleanliness of the entry. And if those things don't make sense, come to my judging clinic at Breyerfest and I will explain it all in detail. When Breyer advertises my clinic they call me a judging expert. That means I have been doing this a long time. The reason I have been judging a long time is because people like how I judge. I have never once cared if the doll in an entry was made by me. I care about whether or not a doll is used correctly, if a doll is used at all. But as a doll maker, I also care very much about my customers. If they are not allowed to use dolls I made, they might choose not to show. Or they might choose not to buy any more dolls I made. Doll making is not a side-hustle for me, it’s how I pay my bills.
This whole situation upset me for a lot of reasons, and I was very unlikely to just let it go. First, I really don't like being talked down to, as I said. Secondly, this really does hurt my customers if I judge. Which means pretty much that I can never judge again. That hurts our already minuscule judging pool.
I was talking to a source inside the board (yes, I know that sounds very cloak and dagger, but I did do my research) and they said that this has to do with the new workmanship performance division which went into effect May 1st of this year. This new division identifies tack makers, doll makers, setup makers, people who paint the animals in a scene, as artists (all of us already knew we were artists) and it makes us no longer eligible to judge in performance where anything we made is used. I understand not judging your own work when the entry is about the specific work, such as judging breed with a model you sculpted. Or judging a doll class when you made some of the dolls. It makes no sense to exclude someone from judging a performance entry because they painted a pole used in the scene. And before you tell me that it doesn’t matter if the judge painted the pole, according to the rule it includes ALL props.
The rules governing performance workmanship now seem to include ALL of performance, not just performance workmanship. MOST performance entries are a collaborative art project with pieces from a variety of different artists. I know 2 people who make all (or most of) the things they use in performance. I know hundreds of performance showers who use a variety of things made by a variety of people. I had a friend who was a talented performance shower that would say her tradable skill was the ability to write a check. I also heard from my NAMHSA board insider that the vote on this new division was close and there have already been concerns about it.
I have concerns.
As a judge, I judge what is on the table. I care about the entry as a whole, starting with the safety of the entry and moving on from there. During my judging clinic people asked if an entry with a doll has an edge over an entry without a doll. My answer was, it depends what is on the table, and it depends on how the doll is used. A riderless entry that is so perfectly positioned to look like it has an invisible rider is going to do far better than an entry with a sloppy doll. And that is how everyone should be judging. You should judge an entry by how good it is in relation to the other entries on the table. And that IS how I judge, and how I have always judged. I have judged classes where every doll on the table was one I made. I have judged classes where every doll but one was one I made. And guess when I noticed if I made the dolls or not? After I judged each entry on its own merit, not on if I made any of the things that were being used.
I love performance showing and I love judging performance. I love miniatures and seeing the creative entries people create. I love the model horse hobby and don’t want to see it hamstringing itself because a few people are afraid of bias that has been proven, more than once, that it is extremely rare if it is even happening at all. If we want our hobby to continue we need find ways to get more qualified people to judge, not find ways to keep them from judging. If this rule doesn’t change, I will sadly never judge again.
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