2013 Drunk Monk Challenge

[DrunkMonkChallenge]

Kurt B is exactly right. Everything he said. It's particularly difficult when people submit entries under aliases such as "UKG Barrel Brewers" or "Garage Brewers", you get the point. And yes, the fee. It's not a large amount on the grand scheme of things, but we'd rather save that money and put it towards nicer medals, trophies, gifts for the volunteers, a nicer lunch for the volunteers, a couple beers for volunteers, larger rental space for judging, etc, etc. We want to take care of the judges because we cant run a competition of this magnitude without their help. (FWIW, I've never been at another competition where they grant you vouchers for beer).

We did use Paypal last year. I agree it's a convenience for the entrants, but it can be a hassle for the organizers. This will be revisited in the future.

Thanks for the comments, compliments, and suggestions. We're always open to them (especially the compliments!).

Thanks to everyone who volunteered. There are too many to list or count, but they know who they are. See you again next year!

 

[Polboy]

I see it now, makes a lot of sense to do it the old way
If i decide to help with competition next year do i just select stewart on the DMC website when registering? , what does this require, how much time im committing for

 

[KurtB]

I see it now, makes a lot of sense to do it the old way
If i decide to help with competition next year do i just select stewart on the DMC website when registering? , what does this require, how much time im committing for

Yes, there is a place to register as a steward on the entry page for the DMC.

This year was my first year working as a steward. If you can stay organized, it is not a difficult thing to do. Basically, you are in charge of making sure the correct bottles get to the judges along with the score sheets, and then after the entries are judged that the score sheets are fully filled out and that they get to the people responsible for the data entry.

The person that is in charge of the stewards, Luann Fitzpatrick, does a fantastic job with making it easy to understand as well as getting new people like me comfortable with the process. There is even a manual on how to be a steward located near the bottom of the DMC page (http://knaves.org/DMC/index.html)

As for the time commitment, I was at the DMC for a few hours on Friday night for the Mead/Cider rounds, more just to get a feel for what I was going to be doing on Saturday. They normally don't need as much help on Friday as they do on Saturday. Saturday was an all day affair. I got there at about 8 in the morning to start setting things up, and did not leave until about 8:30 that evening after the cleanup, awards banquet, HUGE raffle, and a number of beers. There were a few people that got there around lunch just to work the afternoon, and a few others that just worked the morning session.

All the unboxing/sorting of the entries actually took place the weekend before the competition. That only took a few hours. The nice thing is that you can do as much or as little as you would like.