Myrecodia: Yes, commercial growers "write off" the registration fees, but
that does not make them FREE. It's just a percentage discount, depending on
the grower's tax bracket. At 15%, 28%, or even the next bracket up "off"
for the tax deduction, it's still a real cost. Nor do we get to "write off"
all the TIME we spend shepherding these things through the process, a _much_
bigger cost.

I would suppose that AOS awards are mainly of interest to commercial
growers, so can it be written off as a business expense?

This brings up a whole 'nother can of worms. IMHO, the AOS standards and
the taste of the orchid-buying public in my locale (south Florida) has been
drifting further and further apart for quite some time now. To the point
where it's a point I teach in my class on orchid selection:

"Don't be too impressed by AOS awards. They give no points for a lot of
things you would like -- fragrance, ease of growing, ease of blooming,
frequency of blooming, etc."

Now, for the AOS fans out there, I'll concede that some of these things
would be hard to plug into the judging standards, but that doesn't actually
resolve the issue. I didn't say I had a solution, I'm just agreeing with an
observation of the problem. Kenni

I can't see much point of the AOS judging system for the average
hobbyist, particularly the flower quality awards. I don't take my
plants to judging, but I don't imagine that the satisfaction of an AOS
award is any greater than the pleasure that I derive (at no cost) from
hearing my friends Oooh and Aaah over a plant at the local society
meeting.