Ive received a number of replies on how the
Gathering awards should be presented and the
opinions are mixed. Some say winner takes all
and others say only one award per
aircraft. Winner takes all is pretty straight
forward while only one award per KR could present
some real dilemmas for both the judges and the recipients.
The one award per aircraft scenario has, in my mind, the following concerns:
The KR judged Best KR would have to score very
high in all three areas, best firewall forward,
best paint, and best panel and
interior. That disqualifies it from winning any
of the individual awards. The next highest
scoring KR(s) would have scored very high in at
least two or three areas or possibly scored
slightly less in all three areas. So how do you
pick which KR receives the individual awards. I
can envision a scenario where one of the three
individual category winners would have scored
third in the area for which they received the
award. In any given scenario it might be
painfully obvious that all three category winners
were really only second best in scoring for their
award. Personally, I could not feel very good
about receiving a best of award when it is
obvious that I was really only second best or
worse. Also, would the KR judged best KR be
eligible to win peoples choice? Given the
limited number of KRs at the Gathering and the
wide range of workmanship, judging and spreading
around the awards could be a very real problem for the judges.
In light of these concerns, and as host of the
Gathering, the individual awards this year will
be presented to the KR that scored the highest in
each individual area and if one KR takes home all
the awards, including peoples choice and
greatest distance flown, then so be it. THEY
WERE ALL DESERVED. If the goal of our awards
program is to promote ingenuity of design and
quality of workmanship, I personally see this as our only option.
My suggestion for future Gatherings would be to:
1. eliminate individual category awards and have
only judged best KR and greatest distance
flown or 2. eliminate judging entirely and only
have peoples choice award, voted on by the
attendees, and greatest distance flown, with
maybe a plaque or trophy for all KRs flown to
the Gathering and / or 3. form an awards
committee for future Gatherings and let them sort it all out.
I would hope that all attending can appreciate
the soul searching that went in to making my
decision and accept it without any hard feelings.
See you at the Gathering
.
Larry Flesner
