Requirements for Application to the Judges Panel

Article 1. Be a person of high integrity in the fancy and the community.

Article 2. Be a member in good standing of ACS for at least five (5) years prior to applying to the Judges Panel.

Article 3. Must have bred, ACS closed banded and exhibited your own cockatiels for the past three (3) years as an advanced exhibitor, with your own coded ACS bands. No two exhibitors may qualify for the Judges Panel with a partnership band or with the same bird.

Article 4. Must have bred, ACS closed banded, and exhibited one cockatiel to their champion status; also must have bred, ACS closed banded and exhibited three other cockatiels to championship points. The champion B.I.D. wins must be under different Judges. Data on birds with championship points must be verified by the Points Registrar.

Article 5.  Must know, understand and agree to always judge to the current ACS standard of excellence.  Be willing to take the apprentice program, receive passing grades and abide by all ACS Judges Rules and Regulations.

Article 6. May not be an officer or judge in any national cockatiel society other than ACS.

Article 7. Must have reached his/her 21st birthday.  A person age 18 to 21 may apply to the Panel with BOD approval. 

Article 8. All Judges and applicants will be required to pay a fee of $30.00 at the time of filing their application. This fee includes the cost application processing   “Judges Rules and Regulations” booklet and the Judges name badge. $10.00 in fees paid will be refunded if the Board of Directors rejects applicant.

Article 9. A $10.00 annual fee will be assessed each Panel Judge, payable January 1st of each year.

Article 10. Must make a formal request, in writing, to the Chairman of the Judges Panel, giving qualifications; shows and dates of shows where points were earned and all other information pertinent to the above articles.

Article 11. The ACS Judges Panel shall not exceed 30 members. There must be a vacancy on the panel to apply for admission.

Article 12. Any Judge may be removed or suspended from the Judges Panel for flagrant violation of any of these articles. This will require a ¾ majority vote of the entire Board of Directors.

Article 13. Must serve as show secretary in one ACS show with an ACS Panel Judge presiding.

Article 14. Must serve as steward and classify entering cockatiels at two (2) ACS Judged shows.

Article 15. Any of the above rules may be waived, changed or altered by a ¾ majority vote of the entire Board.

 

 

Apprentice Judges Rules, Regulations and Procedure

1. After meeting all requirements to apply to the Judges Panel, applicant must request a standard Judges Panel application form from the Chairman of the Judges Panel. The applicant will be sent the form and copy of “Rules and Regulations” booklet. The Chairman will verify the information submitted on the returned form.

2. Chairman will submit applicant’s name to Judges Panel for comments on applicant’s ethics, morals or other pertinent information. Chairman will request a response from Judges Panel within 5 days.

3. If approved by a simple majority of votes cast by the Judges Panel, testing may begin anytime unless there are mitigating factors preventing this from happening.

4. If the apprentice successfully completes the testing program, his/her name will be submitted to the Board of Directors for a vote of approval or disapproval. This decision must be made within 30 days.

5. The chairman will notify the applicant of the result.

6. If approved by the Board of Directors, at the completion of the apprentice program, the new judge will enter a probation period to last one year. During this probation period, the new Judge will not be able to administer any testing procedures to any apprentice Judges. The Advisory Board will review all new Judges at the end of their initial year.

Tests for Apprentice Judges

Apprentice Judges, after they have completed all other show and time requirements, will complete the following:

1. The apprentice Judge will contact the chairman of the panel and request a written test.  The written test is to be administered by a Senior Judge and the applicant must pass the test with a score of 75% or higher.

2. The next portion of an apprentice’s testing will be to conduct a walk through test.  The apprentice will contact the Show Judges and the Show Manager to ensure that doing an apprentice walk through is convenient to the running of the show and to the judge.  The Apprentice Judge will then notify the JP Chair of their selections.  

3. The apprentice Judge will walk through the entire judging of two major shows with the two different resident ACS Panel Judges. The apprentice may ask questions of the Judge, but not to the point of distracting the Judge from his/her duties.

   • No apprentice walk through will be held during the novice divisions, since this is confusing and distracting to novice exhibitors.

4. At least two panel Judges, appointed by the Chairman of the Judges Panel, shall prejudge ten birds at a major show. They must be in total agreement of the top five birds in which they placed 1st through 5th. After the birds have been judged, the Judges will mark their show report in ink and sign it. The cages will then be replaced on the bench in a different order. At this time, the apprentice may enter the room and judge the birds. The Panel Judges will be present but make no comment to the apprentice until the judging is completed and the apprentice has filled in his/her score sheet and signed it, in ink. At this time, the Judges shall review the completed judging with the apprentice. The time limit for the apprentice to judge the ten birds will be 30 minutes or less. 

5. This is a repeat of (d) with different Judges at a different show.

Scoring Method for Judges Test

Ten birds are used in the apprentice test. Only the top five (5) are graded on the test. This makes each bird worth a possible 20 points. The apprentice must have a score of 80 or better to pass.  Since birds can change or mess up within a moment’s notice, if the apprentice can verbalize why a bird that wasn’t in the original TOP 5 should be, then at the discretion of the Testing Judges, an exception may be made

1. Each bird the apprentice places in the same position as the two Judges counts 20 points.

2. Each bird correctly placed in the top five, but not in the same position counts 15 points.