I am sorry I wasn't clear and that my offer to help was not helpful. I was
offering to get you the name of the judging chair of the judging center
where your plants were awarded, so you could forward the paperwork to the
people (I believe) needed to get it. I kind of assumed you would tell which
of the three judging regions I found in Florida were closest to where your
plants were awarded and I then would certainly have emailed you the names
and contact info.

I am glad you got the info you needed. Was my assumption correct? Did you
need to contact the Judging center closest to where your various awards were
given? Where these the people you ultimately contacted who gave you the
help you were looking for?

I think you have at least year to get award paperwork done and I am pretty
sure if you are letting people know you are working on it, they will not
close the file even if it takes longer. Assuming you can find the person
who has the file.

Your description of the AOS headquarters judging routine and people walking
in off the street to get plants judged is humorous. I can well imagine some
poor person all happy with the award, carrying it home proudly and telling
their friends and then getting a bill. That's the AOS for you.

I only have the DC location and they are open only one Saturday afternoon a
month. I would have to close my
greenhouse on my most profitable day to take plants in for judging. The
first two were done this way. The third was awarded at a show, in the
display of a friend who had borrowed it to put in his display. I usually
don't worry about getting my plants in front of judges. I have to basic
thrills: One is when a person I know to be a judge comes through my
greenhouse and points out nice flowers, unusual plants, or big specimen
plants
and says, "Why don't we ever see these
things at judging? That one has gotta be a CCM!" To me that's the award.
The second is when people who
are not judges see something (with a red tag) and get all upset that its not
for sale because "Its the prettiest thing in the greenhouse." Admittedly my
second thrill is a bit sadistic, but it still provides just as good a
feeling as I get in that time between carrying home a provisional award and
when the bill comes from the AOS.

"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Al: Thanks for trying, but I don't subscribe to AQ and I suspect that I'm
not alone on that amongst folks who've gotten AOS awards -- nor do I think
an AQ subscription should be a requirement for getting an award
registered. I had even let my AOS membership lapse, until I got the award
registration bill on Ocean Storm, in protest over various AOS practices at
its HQ (cool-growing Miltoniopsis in the [south Florida] gift shop,
labelled only "Miltonia Hybrid," Dendrobiums planted in the ground in full
sun to "decorate" the grounds while they die ...). So I didn't have a
current Orchids to go searching in [had I even thought of that, which I
confess I didn't].

Florida is a VERY LONG state ... Jacksonville is a 6+ hour drive from
here, Orlando is 4+ hours, and even Miami is 2+. Awards are not THAT
important to me, so I only go to the judging at AOS HQ (1+ hour), and then
only when it fits between shows (judging is on Saturdays, so I'm usually
busy elsewhere). But having gone to all that trouble, and then _promptly_
registering both new grexes with RHS, I am admittedly VERY annoyed that
it's taken another YEAR in each case to actually get the award registered
with AOS.

By asking around, I did ultimately find someone who could put me in touch
with the right someone to finalize both of my awards (although I still
don't have the certificate on Ocean Storm (awarded 10/04), which was
allegedly mailed the week of 1/9/06, after my check arrived on 1/4/06, so
maybe I'm speaking too soon about that one). My point is that people need
to be TOLD how to complete this process, at the time they get the award,
in writing.

It seems that at most judging centers, the judges and a few large
commercial growers are getting all the awards; they know how to do it, and
the local staff knows they know how to do it, so there's no perceived need
for instructions sheets, and maybe no need at all. But at AOS HQ, there
are actually some folks just "off the street" (not judges, growers, or
even AOS members) that bring in their orchids for judging, along with some
smaller local growers like me. Most of them don't get awards, but when
one does, s/he gets no instructions whatsoever about what to do next --
and doesn't have an Orchids magazine or AQ to go searching through. Many
of them probably don't even know there's supposed to be more involved than
taking home the provisional award sheet with the sticker on it ...
unless/until someone gets around to sending them a bill ... which they
wouldn't have been expecting, because there's no notice posted anywhere
that getting an award will cost you $$.

Kenni

"Al" wrote in message
...
P.S. That stupid PDF file does not seem to contain phone numbers or
email addresses. The Orchids Magazine used too have these and the most
recent Awards Quarterly does still have them, but I worry about posting
this info here.

"Al" wrote in message
...
Kenni,

I don't know which Judging Center has jurisdiction in the area where the
plants were awarded. There are three Judging centers in Florida. Lucky
you.

Florida-Caribbean Center has a Miami address.
Florida North Central Center has a Jacksonville address
Orlando has an Orange Park address.

They all have Judging Center Chair names and contact info, phone numbers
email addresses, etc. I found a list in the back of Awards Quarterly.
It is also published in Orchids Magazine every month (or it used to
be). I also found a list online at aos.org

Here is a link to a pdf file that the AOS says contains the most current
contact info. I would contact the judging chair of the Center closest
to wherever the plants were awarded.
http://aos.org/aos/judging/documents...lendar_002.pdf

I do fries and I slice beef. I also deep fry chicken in a special
secret batter known only to Roy Rogers and as far as I know he took it
to his grave. If he ever told Trigger or Dale Evans the secret batter
ingredients, they never talked, at least not to me. Trigger never did
like me much anyway after I..... but that incident is best forgotten.

Happy Trails.