Have You Hugged A Judge Today?

What makes an individual decide to train to become a judge? Basically, I think, it is a desire to learn combined with a willingness to teach and serve. In my own case, though, I was still new to the Horticultural Society scene having left work two years before to raise a family. The opportunity to enroll in a judging school with all the knowledge it implied was just too enticing to let it pass me by. With heart pounding and sweaty palms, off I went to Kemptville. Unfortunately, the amount of time allotted for each subject in the D.H.A. school was woefully inadequate but it did begin to train the mind and the eye to see the exhibits that bore the closest resemblance to the ideal.

The more I learned the more I knew there was to learn. Knowledge and experience are two of the things which a judge can never have in excess. Patience and tact are the other two things which to my mind are the hardest to learn if you are not born with them.

There I was five weekends and 18 months later, turned loose on the poor unsuspecting world with a newly minted certificate that said I was a certified O.H.A. judge. But I didn't feel prepared to tie my own shoe lace let alone award prize ribbons. In conversation with Sandy Cavaye, I mentioned my feeling of being inadequately prepared. He just sort of chuckled and said that now I had the paper, I could begin my real training.

In search of more specialized criteria on which to base decisions, I attended the horticultural judging school at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton. Here was a wealth of cultural and judging information. So much to learn and so little time. So many books and other goodies to buy and carry home. Six years later and I am still trying to absorb some of the material from the course and only four to five years until the next update. Will there ever be enough time?

So the next time you see prizes at a flower show think of the people who have awarded them. Think of the care and study that has gone before the placing of the ribbon. We are all still students and, alas, not infallible. It shall always be so. We do our best to instruct with the notes that we often write and leave with the exhibits. More often than not they seem to be ignored. There is pressure to award first place prizes in classes that have special awards even when the exhibit does not warrant such a prize. This we must resist even though it brings the criticism that we judge too harshly. After all, it is we who must live with our conscience.

Remember that it isn't ego or money that motivates a judge to discover the highways and byways of this province. It is an honest wish to serve our societies and improve the standards of our shows. So the next judges you meet, tell them that they are doing a terrific job and give them a big hug.

Please contact the OHS or the author if you wish to republish these articles. © Ottawa Horticultural Society

Back to index of articles