One of the major issues raised at club events, committee meetings and during general discussion at the pub has always been judging standards.

Despite a great deal of hard work by my predecessor, Gareth Martin, the sub - committee and all of us who have been involved in the workshops aimed at raising awareness of the problem and addressing the issue, there still appear to be judges who fall short of the expectation of clubs and their members.

Firstly I would urge all judges, at all levels to take part in the workshops; listen to other judges carefully and make your criticisms known; share your experiences with other judges and most of all keep abreast of current trends in the world of photography.

We devised an appraisal form, which we urge all clubs to fill in and return to the Judges and Lecturers Secretary. However, to date we only seem to get them filled in when you have nice things to say. It’s great that we can use the forms to upgrade judges but it was also designed for us to be able to define areas where judges fall down in certain areas of their duties. We all need to know if we’ve done a poor job, even if you feel it is a minor point. It’s the only way we can improve our skills and refresh ourselves where needed.

I will be informing judges before the end of the year of any minor points that have been raised in the forms I have received so far, so if you have any comments to make about any individual judge, please let me know so that I can pass on the information and help them to improve their service to all the clubs and societies.

You can download a copy of the Judges Appraisal Form from the website main menu – INFORMATION - Judges and Lecturers forms, or contact me and I can send it to you by email or by post. Please note anyone can fill in the form, but it must be endorsed by a member of your club committee.