Darwin18
Well-Known Member
They say opinions are like arseholes but I think the saying really should assumptions are like aresholes. If you want to know how a region organizes and handles score sheets show up and volunteer to help.
I am not a member of the organizing club/group in Nashville but I was there judging for multiple categories. There was a team of 3 to 4 individuals who collected the score sheets from each category as they were finished and recorded in the computer. They were alphabetically sorted into folders with the entrants name on them the day of the competition.
They could not mail score sheets until all categories were finished and all data was submitted to the AHA. The AHA set timelines and deadlines for all phases of the competition. So far I have not heard one situation where any of the judging centers including Nashville has surpassed a deadline.
A little patience and understanding of what it takes to receive, sort, organize, and judge over 700 competition entries with a completely volunteer staff goes a long way.
I really enjoyed your write up and appreciate that you took the time to volunteer and judge at the Nashville site. I know that judging is a thankless task and I appreciate you taking time out of your day to do that.
However, no other site is having an issue mailing out their scoresheets in a reasonable amount of time. No other site is using AHA deadlines as a barometer for when they'll get their scoresheets out either. No other site, to the best of my knowledge, has had to judge entries over the course of two weeks because they couldn't line up enough judges. And finally, no other site has put out a request to newbes to help judge remaining entries (yes, I saw the music city brewers explanation but that statement still grates me and indicates that something odd is going on here).
Every other site is getting their scoresheets in the mail and out of their hands. I'm sure that they don't want to be inundated with emails from anxious homebrewers. It really does irritate me to see sites judged this past weekend that are already sending out scoresheets. As someone mentioned a few pages back, Nashville is going to be the first site to judge and the last to send out scoresheets, and that's not really acceptable.
I'm irritated with the competition organizers and club that put on the Nashville first round and NOT the judges, stewards, or other volunteers that helped out. Once you judge a beer and hand off the scoresheets it is the responsibility of the organizers to process them and mail them out. A responsibility that they can't seem to handle but every other center has.