Medwyn Williams shares his thoughts on show judging
Medwyn offers up a few words of wisdom about judging veg at shows
One of the elements I hate about exhibiting is the NAS card (not according to schedule). I hate having to give them out and I hate receiving one! Fortunately, I’ve only once been given this card, many years ago, for a pair of cauliflowers. The reason? The stipulated 7.5cm (3in) of stalk was missing, because I’d inadvertently cut the caulis too high up. The judge, of course, was within his rights as the schedule stated ‘must be shown with three inches of stalk’. Exhibitors do sometimes make
mistakes, which happen when they’re under stress, having been up all night harvesting, washing, packing and driving to the show. The NAS card is given usually when the schedule states that the vegetables ‘must’ be this or that and not ‘should’ be this or that. If an exhibit doesn’t conform to the show schedule there isn’t much the judge can do, apart from award a NAS card. However, I think there is room for discretion. An example of this was an exhibitor staging a collection of six kinds of vegetables, only to return after judging to find he had the NAS card as he had staged seven kinds. I think this was unfair. First, a good steward should have counted the numbers in each class and removed what he considered the weakest of the seven, telling the judge of his action. Had he missed that error, then the judge should have spotted it and told the steward to remove the excess item while he turned his back on the exhibit. In a class where the exhibitor has staged more than the stipulated numbers, this is the action a judge should take. If the exhibitor has staged less than the required number then the judge has no alternative but to NAS the exhibit.