All,

This past weekend our society installed a floor display (100 sf) for a local
show. Because of the hurricane losses so many growers have had down here,
there was only one other society participating (usually there would be a
minimum of four).

An aside: when we got up there and discovered there would only be the two
societies, Frank suggested that we simply throw the plants on the plastic
foot print and shoot for second place. We voted him down, LOL....

We were fortunate enough to be judged the best display, and out of the 43
plants we displayed 30 won ribbons and we had four Best in Show awards. Not
a bad day!

But here's the rub. The other display, with far less ribbons and judged to
be less worthy than ours (though beautiful, for sure!), was given the AOS
Trophy. Huh? Turns out that the judging teams had some infighting - mild
understatement - and one team decided to give the Trophy to the other
society. The gal running the show went into the judging room and asked if
someone could tell her what had happened. The judges replied, and I quote:
"No". Just "No".

The trophy doesn't matter to us. It was clearly stated that we won hands
down. Is this stuff common, though? Agreement on who had the best display
and one group of judges unilaterally deciding to place an AOS Trophy on its
own?

Maybe this is why I'm not in the judge's pipeline. Enough politics without
extending it to orchid shows!

Comments?

Diana