That is the worst part about the Clackamas County Fair, they do not provide any feedback or any explanation, making it seem even the more arbitrary.
Very few places will actually provide you with feedback. It used to be you could at least see the judging sheets...but most places have stopped doing that.
A typical score sheet has four categories.
Visual Impact 0----------20----------40
Composition 0----------15----------30
Technical Quality 0----------10----------20
Workmanship 0----------5----------10
Maximum Score = 100
Now to explain how the judging can go so fast...as you notice, there is a score in the middle of each column. In standard judging, if a print receives a score to the left of center in any category, the print is rejected and scoring stops...Scores to the right of center are tallied and the highest score wins...and so on down the line...in the event of a tie...the image with the highest score at the top of the sheet wins....(two prints score 90...print A scores 36 in Visual Impact, print B scores 38 in Visual Impact...print B wins)
