Berkshire Woodturners run a variety of competitions to challenge members, and encourage and inspire them to improve their design skills and turning ability
Annual Competitions
There are two main competitions run within Berkshire Woodturners:
- the BWA Turner of the Year, which is the outcome of the monthly competitions throughout the year
- the Keith Sherwood Trophy, which takes place on the December club night and where members vote for their favourite.
The rules for these two competitions are described below.
Additional Competitions
Additional competitions might be run as part of the Christmas Special or the Club Open Evening. These will generally be appropriately themed items which will be turned on the night generally against the clock. Judging is usually done by consensus among the members present.
Turner of the Year Rules
1. The competition is open to all members of the association.
2. There will be two categories in the competition:
OPEN – this can be any item turned by the member.
THEME – the committee will determine the themes for each month at the start of the year.
3. The idea of the prescribed theme is to encourage members to try techniques, perhaps, outside their experience or comfort zone and thus improve their versatility.
4. The Open competition allows the member free rein to turn anything that takes their fancy, there is no restriction in terms of wood, shape, size or finish.
5. Only ONE item can be entered in EACH of the two categories. Any item submitted for a competition in either the theme or open categories cannot be entered again in any future competition apart from the Keith Sherwood trophy.
6. The membership is organised into three standards, Beginners, Advanced and Master. New members must provide evidence of their work (at least two items) to be inspected by a panel of committee members so that the appropriate entry level can be determined.
7. Each competition category will be judged in these three standards.
8. An experienced member of the Association , selected from a panel of volunteers, will judge the competition.
9. Entries will be judged and awarded first, second, third, fourth or fifth places. If the standard of the entries are deemed not to warrant a first category the judges can issue a second or third place as felt appropriate. This will apply in particular for categories with only one or two entries.
10. Competition points will be allocated 10 for first, 9 for second, down to 6 for fifth place. All other entries will automatically receive 4 points.
11. A trophy will be awarded to the member accruing the highest total number of points from BOTH the theme and open categories of the competitions. Some form of recognition for all top performers in the individual Theme categories will also be made.
12. The Turner of the Year will receive a small cash prize of value determined by the committee with regard to the current financial situation.
13. In the following January all Beginners, Advanced and Masters points will revert to zero.
Advancement through the Categories
1. At the end of the competition year advancement to the next skill category will be based on a competitors points scored in the themed category
2. Advancement from the Beginners Category to the Advanced Category and from the Advanced Category to the Masters Category will be based on a competitor scoring greater than 70 points. At the 2021 AGM it was agreed that advancement to a higher category could be deferred for one year if the member so wished.
3. In exceptional circumstances, eg a member joining late in the year, at the discretion of the BWA Committee, a competitor may be advanced if it is clear they could have met the criteria.
4. For the Masters category the theme points will be continually aggregated as a matter of interest only.
Keith Sherwood Trophy Rules
1. The competition is open to all members of the Association.
2. There is only one winner and only one prize.
3. Members may enter any one item they have turned. This can include an item entered into the Turner of the Month Competition.
4. Each item entered will be displayed within its relevant skill category.
5. Entries will be judged by those members present. Each member, including those that have entered the competition, will have one vote in each category.
6. The votes will be weighted based on the number of entries in each category. Once the weighting has been taken into account, the Keith Sherwood Trophy will be awarded to the member who turned the item that achieved the most votes.
7. The preceding rules may be modified at any time at the discretion of the committee.
