The Judging Process

The past few Constant Contact emails have been explaining the judging categories and how to submit your rugs. This week we’ll focus on how the rugs are judged!

First up, meet Cheryl Boyd, who is our Awards Advisor. It’s her job to oversee the judging process and to assign the judging teams. For each of the categories (remember the ones we outlined a few weeks ago?), there is a team assigned, made up of an OHCG Teacher, and a non-teacher. These people have never seen the rugs in their category and don’t know who the artists are, so they can view them fresh, with no bias. (Hint: if your name is on the back of the rug, make sure that it is covered.)

These teams, who remain anonymous, will review each rug, using the criteria set out in the Judging Scoresheet. Here are the areas they consider:

- Overall Impression

- Composition

- Technique 

- Finishing

There is a separate scoresheet for the Alternative Fibres & Techniques. They tally up the scores for each rug, with the highest number of points receiving First Prize and the 2nd highest number of points receiving Honourable Mention. You can see the actual scoresheets here (or click on the link at the top of this page) - this is valuable information to those interested in entering their work for judging.

The completed scoresheets are passed to Cheryl who pins the Rosettes on the winning rugs, and provides the results to the Board for announcement at the Annual Conference. The completed judging scoresheets remain confidential and are not released.

In addition, OHCG members may vote on entries in the Theme category for their favourite. Judges do not score these rugs. The results are tallied by Cheryl and the winner announced at the Conference.

So…now you know:

- what the judging categories are and how they are defined.

- how to submit your rugs this year (different from other years).

- how your rugs are assessed.

We hope you’ve found this series of posts informative, and that maybe, just maybe, you can be enticed to enter one or more items for judging. See you at Peace, Love & Rug’n Roll in Cobourg on May 10!

#onthookingcraftguild #rughookersofinstagram #hookedrugs #rughooking #cobourg #artgalleryofnorthumberland

Submitting Your Rugs for Judging

Your friendly OHCG Annual Conference team is back with more info on the judging process! Last time we told you about the judging categories and prizes to be awarded. Next up is the submission process:

Submitting your rugs is going to be handled a bit differently this year. Previously, you simply brought your rug to the Annual on the Friday, it was judged that day, and winners announced the following day.

This year, because we’re displaying things in the Art Gallery of Northumberland (AGN), you’ll need to get them to us ahead of time. Rugs can be viewed by the public from April 29 to May 10 - check the gallery hours at [art gallery website]. This is a groovy opportunity to showcase rug hooking (and YOUR work!) in an accredited gallery.

We’ve created a Judging registration form to smooth out the submission process, and it will be available in the December newsletter. Here are some tips you’ll want to be aware of:

- Rugs (and the registration form) can be delivered to Cobourg any time between January 1, 2025 and April 23, 2025 at 4 pm*. Check in with your rug hooking colleagues to see if they, too, are entering items and work out how best to get them to Cobourg. We know of some folks who are arranging to coordinate delivery to Cobourg on behalf of their branch members - check in with your branch today to see if this is a possibility!

(*corrected.  Previously shown as Apr 25, when it should have been April 23.  Sorry!)

- As is standard for any art gallery, the AGN requires you to supply a valuation for your rug, as they must insure it against Fire and Water damage. Only you know how to value your work, but a rough guideline is $200/square foot for wide cut and $300/square foot for fine cut. This information is to be entered on the registration form, but will only be used for AGN’s insurance calculations. It will not be publicly available.

- You may retrieve your items from the Gallery on May 10, after 4 pm. You’ll need to specify on the registration form who is authorized to drop off and pick up your work.

- Remember that you mustn’t publish photos of your work ahead of the annual! The judging process is anonymous. More on that in our next post.

- Can’t make it to the Annual? Maybe you could visit the AGN when the display has been hung, April 29-May 9.

We hope to see you (and your rugs for judging) in Cobourg, May 10, for Peace, Love & Rug’n Roll!

#onthookingcraftguild #rughookersofinstagram #hookedrugs #rughooking #cobourg #artgalleryofnorthumberland