Competition Question for Judges

[zombiefreak]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to this whole competition thing and am studying to be a BJCP judge so I'm trying to understand something.

For this competition I've supplied the results link to I see there were 8 medals given for a single category(Stouts). While it looks like this was consolidated to encompass all stouts, wouldn't there normally only be 3 medals and a possible honorable mention?

I get that you want some variation like the ability to set up competition specifics like perhaps having a Belgian only competition or something like that but shouldn't a standard competition follow the same logic as others with giving out only 3 medals(assuming the beers score appropriately) per category?

Also there is 1 beer entered for the category of Pilsner and it got a gold medal. Couldn't the single Pilsner be consolidated with say the Light Hybrid category which only had 6 entries as well or are you not allowed to consolidate across categories, only within sub-categories.

http://winterbrew.squarekegshomebrew.com/

Just trying to understand the competitions a bit more.

Thanks

 

[biereblanche]

Yup, it's odd. Can't explain why that comp gave out so many medals, but the BJCP doesn't set rules re: awards.

Most competitions award 1-3 + possible HM per category - sometimes a full BJCP category, sometimes multiple or less combined or divided. Might depend on number of awards available or the number and distribution of entries.

There are some competitions (notably some pro competitions) that award Gold/ Silver/ Bronze based on an entry achieving more than a certain number of "points" or whatever. People and breweries both like awards and recognition, in some cases it's favorable to provide them.

 

[CadillacAndy]

They most likely had them broken down in to 3 different categories, but just didn't know how to separate the categories in the competition software.

Most competitions have some disclaimer saying the can combine categories as they see fit depending on the number of entries. It is a little weird to see categories with only 1 or 2 entries still being judged by themselves, but there aren't any BJCP rules about that that I'm aware of.

 

[hoperific]

I've used the comp software before and sometimes it can be hard to display results properly if a style category was judged by multiple tables of judges. So with 22 stouts, I bet they broke it out into 3 tables/flights and the software wants to award medals for each flight instead of a whole category. There is setting to change that display feature, though. The competition software is nice, but it does need a user who has good computing skills and some time to practice with the software to see how to operate it correctly. That would be my guess if I had to take one. You can always email the comp organizer if you need to know.