I recently invited by Ulaan, the Three Mountains Arts and
Science Minister, to be on a panel regarding A&S competitions and
associated questions along with Her Excellency Eden the Mad and Mistress
Fjorlief in Haga. We discussed some initial questions presented by attendees
and the barony’s populace, but I found myself wanting to go into a deeper dive
as far as my own commentary and provide links where applicable. I liked the question/answer format, so I’m
going to stick with that and elaborate where I can. This information applies specifically to the Kingdom
of An Tir.
As a preface, these are all my own, personal opinions about this! I’m very pro-competitions and have generally had very
good experiences with them, so bear that in mind! I’m also
happy to answer any additional questions received from the comments section.
Me (Þóra) presenting during the Three Mountain's A&S Competition Panel
Initial questions from the 3M populace (with my responses):
1.) What is an A&S competition?
Arts &
Sciences competitions within the SCA are a space where you can submit a project
(research, a reproduction of a historical object, documentation of a historical
process, or documentation of experimental archeology (field work)) to be judged
and there is a winner (or multiple winners).
Bardic is often included in A&S competitions but is also often
separate. Bardic can be all manner of
things such as dance, musical performance, spoken word performance, visual
performance, original music, original spoken word, as well as compositions for
music and/or spoken word. Winners of
competition may win a championship, largesse, a scroll, prizes, awards, or
simply word fame – it all depends on the type of competition you enter (which
is almost always described in the announcement of the competition).
A&S
competitions happen at all levels of our organization from
Shire/Canton/Baronial level to Kingdom level.
Each competition has its own rules, requirements, and method of
judgement. Many, but not all
competitions use some version of the Kingdom Rubrics linked in question 3. Some competitions have topic requirements,
some require multiple entries, and some require creating an object the day of
the competition, so it is important to read all of the requirements about any
given competition before choosing to compete.
2.) May I enter any area's competition or only the
area I am local to?
It is always a
good idea to check with the person running the competition if you are qualified
to enter. Many competitions are open to
any competitor, but certain regions may restrict entry to residents or previous
competitors. Some competitions also
restrict what can be entered – if it has been a competition piece previously or
if it has one a competition previously, a project may be excluded from being
entered again in some competitions. If
you have questions or aren’t sure whether your project is a good fit or whether
you are permitted to compete, always reach out and ask the competition
contact. In my experience they are happy
to answer all of your questions – they want you to participate if at all
possible!
3.) The Rubric: What is it, how it works related to
competitors?
Link to the
Kingdom of An Tir Rubrics/Judging Forms: http://arts.antir.org/forms/judging-forms/
There are
Rubrics for all A&S and Bardic pursuits listed in the question 1
response. In many competitions (75% or
so) some form of the Kingdom rubric is used for judging A&S project entries. Generally, these rubrics are a good guideline
to let the competitor know what questions they should be researching/answering
and what the judges will be looking to ask regarding their project. There can be a lot there to digest, but if
you take it one section at a time and make notes as to what judges might look
for, it can be very helpful when you are planning your project! Competitors
should definitely review these rubrics and/or whichever judging form the
competition will be using. This can be
requested from the person running the competition.
Generally, any
rubric or judging form used will have scoring categories and a score
total. This isn’t like test grades so
you should throw that mindset out the window.
For the Kingdom rubric specifically, I would look more at the
description of each category and the scoring (usually 0-5). I think scoring a 2 or higher in any category
is quite good. Getting a 5 in a category
is extremely elusive so unless you are in a museum already a score of 4 is gosh
darn amazing! It is good to be realistic
with your expectations because there are areas where you’ll be strong and areas
that you’ll probably need to work on – even the strongest competitors I know
will tell you that, so don’t be discouraged if you feel like you receive a low
score in an area. That’s very normal and
part of the process of improving and further refining your
knowledge/research.
4.) What is the general flow of a competition -
maybe some examples at various levels (Shire vs Kingdom)?
Every
competition is different (especially at the lower level), but most involve
entering at least 1 project, displaying it, documenting it, talking about it
briefly, and receiving feedback from judges.
Most (but not all) shire/canton/baronial competitions require less
documentation, but I believe in trying to approach all my projects with the
same level of detail. That said, if you
have concerns in one area of your project, presenting it at a lower level can
often get you needed feedback on how to improve an area of your project so you
can submit it at the next level. Some lower-level competitions can still be
extremely challenging, however, and require more than one project. Stromgard’s baronial A&S competition has a storied
reputation for requiring 3 entries (2 in advance and 1 the day of the
competition), so definitely make certain to pick your first competition to be
at a level you feel comfortable at!
Seeking advice from your local A&S officers or A&S champions can
help with this decision-making process, as they likely have experience and
insight regarding competitions in your area.
5.) Are all competitions the same? (do competitions
require the same amount of research, level of period-ness)?
I mentioned
this briefly above, but no, they can be quite different! It all depends on who is putting on the
competition and what type of competition it is.
There are A&S competitions that have been done by popular vote (many
of these are largesse competitions).
I’ve participated in a Yule A&S competition where there were entry
categories (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) and prizes awarded to the winner
of each category (we picked from a stack of donated prizes… I won my category
and got some great wool I turned into an apron dress later!!). The Yule competition only required a 1 page
sheet of documentation and had no presentation component! There are also many baronies that due a
simplified version of the Kingdom A&S rubric because it is more approachable
to persons looking to participate in A&S competitions (especially
newcomers).
Most competitions are posted
on the Kingdom A&S Facebook group, so I highly encourage you to check it
out (requirements of competitions are often listed in the announcement threads,
themselves): https://www.facebook.com/groups/469786296420688
6.) How does research work: What is
"enough" research?
I’d argue that
there’s always room for more research, but obviously that’s not always
realistic (and I certainly can’t always uphold that statement, myself!). Enough
for me looks like having a good grasp of evidence regarding what the rubric is
asking for. For a tabletwoven band, for
example, I’ll do research to answer questions like, “What are the
materials/methods used to create the original period object, what tools were
used, who wore/used this in history, what was its use (what clothing was it
on?).” My research should sufficiently answer all of these questions, as that’s
what the judges will be looking for in the rubric. Any statement you make within your
documentation should be justified by your research (with a citation to your
source). If you can’t find the answer to
a question, you should disclose that.
Sometimes we just don’t know the answer to everything, so if there isn’t
an answer you can justify you can simply say that you don’t know but provide a
good theory and any evidence that might back it (EX: there’s no loom evidence
where your textile object was from, but there are loom weights and loom
evidence from a neighboring town/similar time period).
7.) Do I have to defend my project?
It isn’t a
thesis, so I wouldn’t approach it that way, but I understand where this
question is coming from. The judges do
ask very good and thoughtful questions.
Sometimes they’ll surprise you and you’ll have no idea how to answer
because you never thought about it or touched on it during your research. Sometimes they will disagree with something
you asserted. In the case of the
disagreement, you can only provide the evidence (research) that supports your
statement and have them review it. On
occasion, I’ve discovered that some authors are very unreliable sources or
other known issues that I don’t know about because I had never been exposed to
it.
Try to take any
feedback with a grain of salt. People
try to be as constructive as possible and ask you questions because they want
you to extrapolate and show off your knowledge.
People aren’t generally trying to catch you off-guard in area, they just want to
confirm you have a generally
good understanding of the topic you are presenting. This gets much easier as time moves on, but I
think your first experience is always the most difficult because you don’t (at
least I didn’t) have any idea what to expect as far as questions/feedback. I
highly recommend doing a mock run of your presentation with someone who has
judged before to get initial feedback and any jitters regarding questions out
of the way!
8.) How do I plan a project?
If possible,
always start your project with looking at the competition requirements and how you'll be judged (judging form/rubric). As
an example, I recently participated in the Three Mountains Baronial
Championship. In reading the initial
competition announcement I discovered that it would require 2 entries (most
competitions only require 1) and that 1 entry would have to be specific to the
Silk Road as a topic. That meant I
couldn’t present two existing projects as I had never done a project related to
the Silk Road. The judging form (requested from the individual running the competition) was a
modified version of the Kingdom A&S rubric, so I knew generally what to
expect as I had competed using those forms before.
If you must
submit an existing project, it is equally important to review the competition
requirements and the rubric! The
requirements will let you know if your entry will be accepted into the
competition as it is, and the rubric will tell you what you will need to
provide/demonstrate during the competition.
It will also inform you of any gaps that you need to justify such as
using non-period materials, tools, and/or construction.
Additional questions that I feel should be answered from my
own personal history competing (with my responses):
1.) How would you describe the process of competing
from project planning to finishing the competition the day of?
When I first
see an announcement of an A&S competition in my area, I normally check to
see how much time I have to create a project (assuming I’m not going to try and
use something I have already created that hasn’t been submitted to
competition). I know that it usually
takes me at least 6 weeks to do a piece I’m happy with, so I won’t enter a
competition if I don’t have at least 2 months of time to create and document
something I’m creating. So bear in mind
the length of time you’ll have to create a project, document it (usually this
is a paper), create a display (how you are going to show it at the competition
– see photo example below of one of my displays), and develop your presentation
(I usually give a 10-15 minute summary of my documentation).
My Kingdom A&S 2020 Display (example of what a display might look like)
Typically you
provide the topic of your competition entry to the individual running the
competition well ahead of the competition date.
You will usually send any documentation you’ve prepared (or your
research paper if that is what you are entering) around a week before the event
so judges have time to review it and draft questions they might have in advance
of your presentation.
The day of the
competition, I usually get there at least 30 minutes to an hour early to set up
my display (at Kingdom A&S you normally arrive and set up the day before
the event). This entails setting up your
display and usually letting the person running the competition know that you
are there. Most events provide a table
for you to decorate and display your project on. Occasionally there are additional
requirements such as attending a judging panel and/or writing a letter of
intent to compete to present during court proceeding a competition.
Ideally you
will know the time you are presenting at the competition in advance (or will be
notified the morning of the competition).
Judges will start to arrive 5-10 minutes ahead of your scheduled start
time. Sometimes (but not always) a timekeeper
will be present and let you know if you’ve exceeded your time allotment for
presenting (15 minutes is the standard for this). This is done because there are usually
additional projects that need the judges that are judging you! After the presentation, there’s usually 5
minutes allotted for judges to ask you questions about your project and/or
presentation. After that, your part is
done! The judges sequester privately to
document their feedback and issue your score (you’ll get a packet of written
feedback from the judges usually after a winner has been declared during
court).
2.) How do you not feel let down when you lose?
I really want
to talk about losing, because with competitions there is usually a
“winner.” People by nature tend to be
competitive, I’m no exception, but when I’m competing, I’ve found its unhealthy
for me to make “winning” my goal. Instead, my approach to competitions is to
aim for a different victory condition like sharing my art or research directly
with people (captive audience) who want to receive it and to receive feedback. Usually, depending on the way we’re being
judged, I also try to set a target point value I want to achieve or target
feedback I want to receive and that’s my true victory condition. Honestly, showing up to a competition with a
completed (or even mostly completed) project is sometimes a victory!
Competitions
tend to drive me to do a more solid project than preparing for a demo or a
display because there are usually topic and/or judging requirements that you
need to adhere to for a competition whereas a display has more freedom and
flexibility. Competition motivates me to
do more difficult things or pieces outside my comfort zone to try and meet
those higher requirements. Since I know I’ll have judges asking me questions
that I’ll need to have the knowledge to respond to – I’ll take the time to
learn more about a project, too!
If you think
about competitions, people who enter are submitting wildly different types of
art and research – there’s no basis of comparison outside of how things measure
up on the competition rubric or judging form.
I never view myself as in direct competition with anyone else’s
art. I madly respect my fellow competitors (many times they are people I respect greatly and/or good friends). Frankly, there are some incredible
artists in our Kingdom who are much better than I am, but how does that kind of effort stack
against my research paper? It isn’t a 1:1 visual comparison, so we must rely on
judging forms that factor in several different types of criteria. Just because
someone wins over you doesn’t make them better at their art than you,
necessarily, it just means their project best fit the criteria that was
being judged. If you can keep that in
mind, taking pride in your project and your score is very easy and you’ll be
thrilled for your fellow competitors when they win!
There are no
losers, IMO, everyone wins word fame about their art (at minimum) for
participating.
3.) I’m interested in A&S and want to
participate in something like a competition, but I don’t really have a craft
area I’m good at yet, is there a way for me to still do something?
I encourage
anyone that doesn’t yet have a craft or an area of interest to consider doing a
report style research paper on something they’d like to know more about. I would start by determining an area of interest like, “Daily life in 12th Century Uppsala” and then looking
at the Research Paper Rubric to determine what kinds of questions you should be
asking about that topic. A good start
would be things like, “describe the people who lived there in period, what
goods did they create/trade for, what professions were common/present, what is
the city’s history/layout, are there archeological finds from that period, what
history proceeded that led to events in that period, and how did the
geographical location influence the area historically?”
This sort of activity
increases your personal knowledge and conveys that knowledge to others. It also
helps you determine if that’s an area of interest that you would like to
continue to investigate.
Regardless of
whether or not you end up submitting your research for a competition – you’ll
have it to draw on if you ever need to speak on the topic or use that
information to justify/support a different project!
4.) How good at my craft do I have to be to enter a
competition?
A portion of
your score is usually related to your technical execution of an object (if you
are submitting an object to a competition), however, it is far from the only
component. Your technical level isn’t the sole determiner of your success by
any means, though if you are weak in an area, you should strive to be strong in
a different area (like presenting, displaying, or documenting your project). A low score in one area will not necessarily
result in a bad or low score for the overall project. It should also be noted that even the very
best crafters and researchers can have low scores in certain areas of their
projects – consider it an area that you may need to work on (we all have room
for improvement in some area of our work).
5.) Where can I find a sample paper or template to
look at how to format my A&S documentation?
Is there an expected citation/bibliography format?
I have several
papers pinned to the top of this blog (http://tabletweavingfun.blogspot.com/2021/04/authored-by-ora-researchdocumentation.html
) that you can use as examples of different types of documentation (including a
research paper I submitted to a competition). My friend Tullia also provided me
a link to one of her blog articles about documentation I was first starting out
my research process. Please check it out if you need a good starting outline: https://romanasum.com/2015/02/08/writing-documentation/
For
bibliography/citations, I generally try to be consistent whether its MLA,
Chicago or APA style (https://pitt.libguides.com/citationhelp), but I’ve found
that most judges are fairly forgiving regarding how you do this as long as
there is a bibliography, and they can tell where your information is coming
from. The most important piece of
documentation is that if you make a statement regarding an object, process,
etc. that it be founded in evidence, so you’ll need papers, articles,
photographs etc. that justifies your statement as a fact OR an acceptable
theory.
EXAMPLE: “This
tabletwoven band was created with 20 cards as detailed by an archeological accounting.1” – 1 would be your citation or reference listed on the
same page and/or in the bibliography.
You can also say, “This tabletwoven band was created with 20 cards as
evidenced by the visible S/Z thread lines in the referenced photograph totaling
20.” This is a pictorial reference, but it is you that’s doing the counting
from the photo (not someone else’s documentation). Both are acceptable in my experience; you
just need to be clear about where the justification is coming from.
6.) Where the heck are people finding all these
research articles, I’m not sure what to even search for?
That’s a really
great question and it is one I’ve struggled with myself. Before setting off on your own to hunt down
articles on a topic, I would attempt to connect with other people and groups
(Facebook, websites, reddit, blogs etc.) that may research and/or explore a
similar area. Since I’m a weaver, I’ve
joined several Facebook groups related to the type of weaving I do. Most of those groups have a repository of
links, articles, and hundreds to thousands of helpful individuals just waiting
to answer some of your questions.
We also have
many resources available to us in the SCA A&S community. If there is a Laurel or another individual
that does an art or science similar to your interest, I encourage you to reach
out to them to see if they have recommendations of books, articles etc. that
may start your down the right path on your project. Even asking useful terms to search for on
google is a step in the right direction.
Use your google
search to remove pinterest links (-pinterest) – pinterest can be helpful
sometimes if it links you back to a good source, but 95% of the time it doesn’t. This search style will help you get more
solid source results when you search for things. Don’t be afraid to look at Wikipedia –
sometimes the bibliography section will have multiple articles that help you
peruse a topic further (and those articles will also reference additional
articles and so on).
Definitely look
at free sites like http://academia.edu (this will spam your email, but is
free). A lot of academic papers can be found there on a variety of subjects and
you can set it to email you regarding your subject of interest. Utilizing your local library and having a
librarian request a book for you is also a possibility (if you have a good
library system).
7.) I’m very afraid my art will be picked apart
during the judging process and this has given me a lot of reservations about
competitions, what has been your experience and/or how have you dealt with this?
I’ve had quite
a few people confide in me that this is their #1 biggest fear about
competitions. Art is highly personal and
people put tons and tons of effort into it – I totally understand why people
have reservations about receiving any negative feedback regarding their
work.
One of the largest
issues I’ve seen is how people approach competitions. It is surprisingly quite difficult to submit
a project that wasn’t planned for competition because, more than likely, your
mindset in creating it wasn’t for it to be judged, but for people to enjoy it
as art! Competitions that use the
Kingdom’s rubric or a variant, provide points for historical
tools/materials/construction methods/patterning/documentation of your
process/research etc. – obviously these things aren’t always possible to do
(even if you are planning a project for competition), but if you are submitting
to compete you should be trying to do as much of this a possible and justifying
what isn’t possible (while demonstrating why you are deviating and that you
have the knowledge of how something was actually done). As an example – I weave
a lot of things on an inkle loom because I learned to weave on one and it is
still comfortable for me to use. There
are period looms and backstrap period style weaving (that doesn’t require a
loom), so it is hard for me to justify why I didn’t use a more period technique
if I’m trying to enter something I’ve already made on an inkle loom. If I had planned a project specifically for
competition, I wouldn’t use an inkle loom in the first place because I’d be
trying to create an object in a historical manner. This is just an example of how planning for
competition can avoid losing points for these types of items.
I’ve also found
that people can be surprised that aesthetics are weighted equally with historical
knowledge/reproduction of the object.
You can create a truly beautiful item, but a person may have not
explored the history around making the item or how it existed in historical
context. It doesn’t change the fact that
the artist created a truly stunning piece, all it reflects is a gap in
expressing knowledge surrounding its history and creation.
I’ve often
found that the objects reproduced often get high scores/praises for their
appearance but lose points in some of the areas I’ve mentioned above. The disappointment usually surrounds low
overall scores in areas surrounding historical accuracy. At this time, most competitions are strongly
geared towards this component, however, there are competitions where winners
are determined by aesthetics and popular vote also. If you would prefer a competition more geared
towards the appearance of your work, I would strongly recommend those vs.
competitions that strive for historical accuracy, research, and
documentation.
All of this
said, I have heard that some individuals feel like the person judging them does
not have the expertise in their area to judge their project and/or individuals
have experienced derogatory comments about their art. I’ve personally never experienced this, but
if I ever disagreed with a judge’s statement, I would try to sit with them
after the competition to discuss their comment further/provide additional
evidence. If someone said something
negatively regarding my work that I felt was offensive, I’d try to use conflict
resolution language like, “Let me pause for a moment to address your comment
‘Your weaving is at a rudimentary level and you should not have entered,’ that
statement hurt my feelings and I want to understand what you mean by
that.” I’ve found that it is usually never
someone’s intent to cause someone to personally feel bad, but if for some
reason I was faced with that, I’d discuss it with the person conducting the
competition and/or the officer in charge of the event.
8.) I’m very uncomfortable with one aspect of the competition
(presenting, research, display) – can I still compete if I have a barrier?
Me too and
yes! I have a lot of social anxiety
surrounding presenting and public speaking.
In many cases I notify my judges in advance that I have this issue, so
they are aware if I stop or pause for a moment to recollect my thoughts. Likewise, if you have dyslexia or an issue
with drafting a formal paper it never hurts to reach out and let the
competition lead know. At minimum, I’ve
found that your judges will be notified so that they can understand where you
might have a challenge. You may still be
deducted points, but I find their feedback to be much more helpful than it
would be if you didn’t disclose your challenge with an aspect of the
competition.
This isn’t a
requirement, and you certainly aren’t required to share this level of personal
information, but I’ve found that it can be helpful if the people around you
understand your situation and what you find especially challenging.
9.) Can I see what it is like to be a judge prior to
competing in a competition?
Absolutely! Most competitions are hungry for judges! There is a Kingdom level judging class that
takes place every year at Kingdom A&S that is an outstanding primer on how
to judge A&S competitions. Locally,
persons running events will usually always accept student judges (judges in
training). Being a student judge will
familiarize you with the process of judging competitions and give you an
initial feel for how the competition flow works. Before I entered my first Kingdom A&S I
signed up as a student judge for a Bardic performance (I play several
instruments mundanely, so I felt it would be a good fit). It was really fun, and I learned a lot about
the process; additionally, I also wasn’t as nervous when I entered my first
competition because I knew how things generally went!
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If you got to the end here, congratulations and thank you for taking the time to read this article! It is my earnest hope that any questions or concerns surrounding competitions be addressed, because it really can be a lot of fun and a great SCA experience. I hope to see you all on the A&S competition circuit soon as a judge or a fellow competitor!
