Competition Rules

Competition and Skills Class Assessment Aims:

  • to encourage people to submit pieces to competitions on a regular basis
  • to give constructive feedback on Turners’ work to help them improve their turning skills
  • to have regular assessments of Turners’ work to give a sense of how they are performing compared to skills-group peers
  • to assess and score enough of a Turner’s work each year to determine whether they are ready to be promoted to the next skills class.
  • to provide a series of challenges which expand an individual’s turning skills and encourages them to try new or different techniques

Skills Classes from January 2024:

  • Beginner
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced
  • Master

Annual Competitions

There are two main competitions run within Berkshire Woodturners:

  • the Turner of the Year (TOTY), which is the outcome of the monthly competitions throughout the year
  • the Keith Sherwood Challenge, 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 (TOTY) Competition Rules

  1. The TOTY competitions focus on members regularly sharing their work and getting constructive feedback
  2. The TOTY competitions take place monthly (January to November). TOTY competition scoring is separate to the scoring undertaken in the Skill Class Progression Assessments.
  3. There are two TOTY competition categories: Theme and Open
    a. The committee sets themes each year before the start of the year.
    b. The Open competition allows the member free rein to submit any turned item with no restriction in terms of design, size, or finish.
  4. One item can be entered each month, in each of the two categories. Pieces submitted must have been made within the previous 12 months
  5. An experienced member of the club will judge the monthly competitions and rank the submissions
  6. Submissions will be assessed against the average skill levels expected in each skill class.
  7. Constructive feedback and the reasoning behind the ranking will be given by the judge to the club night
  8. Monthly rankings will also gain points accumulating towards the annual competition (in each skills class) with scoring as follows:
    a. 1st – 10 points
    b. 2nd – 8 points
    c. 3rd – 6 points
    d. 4th – 4 points
    e. 5th – 2 points
  9. TOTY scoring points will be accumulated through the year from both open and themed entries.
  10. Annual TOTY winners, in each skill class, will be those who accumulate the most points in the year (from both open and themed categories combined). A TOTY trophy will be awarded to each skill class winner at the December club night
  11. No item submitted for a TOTY competition, in either the Theme or Open categories, can be entered in any subsequent TOTY competition.
  12. The list of TOTY scores will be updated each month and published on the BWA website.
  13. To encourage members to submit pieces regularly, a raffle ticket will be awarded for each submission (open and/or themed) that achieves third place or above. These will be put into a special Christmas raffle with a first prize of £50 and a second of £20.
  14. On the following 1st January, all points will revert to zero for the ensuing year’s competitions.
  15. The Award Titles
    • Turner of the Year winner (Master)
    • Turner of the Year winner (Advanced)
    • Turner of the Year winner (Intermediate)
    • Turner of the Year winner (Beginner)
  16. These rules may be modified at any time at the discretion of the committee.

Skill Class Progression Assessment Rules

  1. From January 2024 the membership is organised into four skills classes: Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced and Master.
  2. Four times a year, on designated club nights, members may submit a specified theme piece for assessment and scoring towards their potential progression up to the next skills class. This will be undertaken at the meeting hall between 18:00 and 19:00 hrs. prior to the main club meeting commencing
  3. Pieces will only be judged in the hall physically (i.e., No photographed submissions)
  4. The normal TOTY competition will take place separately during the main part of the club night.
  5. Skills assessment themes are set by the committee. Members are encouraged to demonstrate their turning skills, ingenuity, and design flair in whatever way they wish, within the context of the theme. Themes and assessment months are currently set as follows:
    • March – A Box
    • June – A Bowl
    • September – A Candlestick (for single or multiple candles)
    • December – A turned object with a finial
  6. Two judges will assess the pieces against a set of criteria agreed by the committee. Judges will discuss their assessments to try to achieve consistency in scoring against the average skill set expected in each class.
  7. Scoring is undertaken in each of 5 categories – Form, Function, Finish, Design and Technical Difficulty. With 5 points available in each category the maximum number of points achievable is 25.
  8. Assessment and scoring are done progressively more rigorously for the higher skills classes.
  9. A turner will progress to the next skills level when:
    • They have submitted at least three pieces for assessment during the year (out of the maximum of 4), and
    • They achieve an average score of 21 points or more in the year (total score divided by number of pieces submitted).
  10. Individual detailed feedback on the scoring will be given and discussed privately with the submitting member by a judge before the score is finally recorded.
  11. With the agreement of the member, submitted pieces will also be displayed on the club night. A simple award ranking related to points scored at each assessment will be used as follows:
    • Excellent – 21 or above points
    • Highly Commended – 18 to 20 points
    • Commended – 15 to 17 points
    • Merit – 14 or below
  12. Specific details of the scoring and the judge’s critique will be kept confidential by the committee and will not be published to members.
  13. Raffle tickets will be awarded to all entries for the Skills Assessment which will then be included in the annual TOTY raffle draw.
  14. Changes to Class listings will be announced in December.
  15. New members will start in the Beginner’s class unless they provide at least two pieces of their work for review so that a panel of committee members can determine a more appropriate entry level.
  16. The Beginner’s class is reserved for those who have just started or who have done very little turning. All Beginners will automatically progress to Intermediate after 2 years in the club (or earlier by submitting pieces for skills assessments.)  Deferment of such promotion can, however, be requested.  The committee will then review the Turner’s recent work with them and agree on a way forward.
  17. Any member can request that they be moved to a lower class if they feel they are no longer in the correct skills class. The committee will review the Turner’s recent work and discuss such request with them before agreeing on a way forward. 
  18. A piece submitted for a skills assessment can also be submitted to any subsequent month’s TOTY competition
  19. The committee reserves the right to modify a member’s skill class if it appears from their TOTY submissions that they are incorrectly placed, and they have not regularly submitted pieces for skills assessment. This will be discussed and agreed with the member.
  20. These rules may be modified at any time at the discretion of the committee.

Keith Sherwood Challenge Competition Rules

  1. The competition is open to entries from all members of the Club. 
  2. Members may enter any one item they have turned in the last 12 months. This can include an item previously entered into the Turner of the Year Competition or submitted for a Skills Assessment. 
  3. Each item entered will be placed on display at the December club night, within its relevant skill class. 
  4. There will be one winner in each skill class.
  5. Entries will be judged by all those members present.
  6. Each member, including those who have entered the competition, will have one vote for each skills class.
  7. The turner whose work achieves the most votes, in each class, will receive a personal Keith Sherwood Challenge winner’s trophy.
  8. The Award Titles
    • Keith Sherwood Challenge winner (Master)
    • Keith Sherwood Challenge winner (Advanced)
    • Keith Sherwood Challenge winner (Intermediate)
    • Keith Sherwood Challenge winner (Beginner)
  9. These rules may be modified at any time at the discretion of the committee.