I am curious.....

Dear Grant,we take your comments on board, in fact many hours are spent each year agonising over the "best" system for encouraging/'rewarding', saying thanks for dedication etc. As I'm sure you know the current award system was 'set up'many years ago under a deed of trust for an award, later split in two for "the best amateur production".I'm not sure how or if this can be altered. You have however given me at least food for thought and as there will be an Adjudicator's meeting early in the new year perhaps this topic should be thrown into the ring.I wonder however what the reaction from clubs would be if we scrapped the current system and simply presented the Adjudicators Awards as a concensus of everyon's views on what they had seen during the year?Anyone reading this, would they let the ITA, and me, know views.I'll think about a club survey, tho past efforts at getting club respones to things like surveys has been less than encouraging. Maybe with the net where it'a a lot easier to dash off a comment we can expect more participation. Kimberley, what are Blak Yak's views??Norma.P.S. Keep on mounting soapbox Grant, it keeps us from becoming complacent!> hehehe> this could end up being Pandora's box :)> My views on the awards (as opposed to the night itself - which> is great idea!) are known to a few people. Feel free to stop reading> here if you're fed up with hearing me whinge about the awards :)> *steps onto soapbox*> I was delighted to see that so many adjudicators' certificates> awarded. These recognise what the adjudicators consider to be outstanding> achievements throughout the year. The awards are discussed and debated> amongst the adjudicators before being decided on.> I like this system. It recognises that the opinions of the adjudicators> are subjective and encourages them to justify and debate their choices> with each other. It appears to me from the range of areas that they> have chosen to present certificates in that a great deal of careful> consideration was given. Well done!> However, personally I think the notion of presenting an overall> award for the "best" in theatre and musicals is a nonsense.> The system used to arrive at the result is even worse than the notion> itself.> The recent Finley adjudicator's training session adequately demonstrated> what i consider to be the hopelessness of trying arrive at a reasonable> consensus on the quality of a performance. The Guild Of Drama Adjudicators> marking system is great for arriving at and justifying an individual> score - but does nothing to narrow the gap between individuals.> As part of their training, the team of potential adjudicators> attended the same performance and then gave it marks ranging from> 33 to 75 out of 100. Surely, no amount of statistical wizardry can> massage any sense out of figures like this - not on a tiny sample> of three or so adjudicators attending each performance for the Finley's.> The best you can hope for is some notion that some shows belong at> the good end of the spectrum and others at the not-so-good. I can't> help feeling that any suggestion that you can conceivably rank shows> differentiating between 1st, 2nd, 3rd... according to these types> of results is a pretense.> It doesn't matter how experienced, skilled, knowledgable, fair> or otherwise you adjudicators are - if you only ask three people to> rank the best movies of the year, you can't claim the results are> representative or authoritative.> I've been roundly and justifiably criticised by a few friends> for trashing the awards system and not offering a constructive solution.> I'm afraid i'm no closer today than i was five years ago to being> able to offer any suggestions.> But i commend the ITA for highlighting the participation of the> clubs in the evening's entertainment and for encouraging the presentation> of so many adjudicator's certificates.> *steps off soapbox*> Who's next?> :)> Cheers> Grant