Some good questions were raised in another thread about judging orchids, what judges look for and who sets the criteria for judging. These were good questions and some bay be interested in or benefit from some answers and discussion so rather than go off topic on that thread I'm posting the questions and answers in this new thread.
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Originally Posted by PhalPal  'Judging' in any capacity comes down to what is trendy or seen as the challenge of the times. (i.e. clear yellow phals, the elusive black orchid) . . . A Golden will never win BOS because they are considered too 'common'. Me, I'm sticking with my Goldens and phals and it doesn't bother me how common they may be!  |
I'll address the last part first. While I am keen on judging and showing orchids, I will be the first to agree and preach the message that we should all grow the orchids we love and that do well in the conditions we can provide. For some folks this happens to be orchids for showing. In my view it's like steak vs seafood. Some love one, some love the other and there's no "better" or "worse," just "different." Maybe a better analogy is horseback riding. Some folks have just a couple of horses for their own pleasure riding, some have a business with lots of horses for riding where folks come and take them out for a day, and some folks are after the triple crown. And it's all good.
I've been asked by folks in orchid clubs and at shows if the commonly found orchids are judged harder or if judges don't like them because they are common. Maybe judges like the unusual things better?
It might be helpful to clarify what we mean by commonly found or commonly seen orchids. One possibility is mericlones. A good example of this is Guaritonia Why Not 'Roundabout' (formerly Cattleytonia Why Not 'Roundabout'). It received an Award of Merit (a flower quality award) of 80 points from the AOS (AM/AOS) back in 1982 and someone thought it had qualities that would make is sell well on the mass market so it was extensively cloned. All of us who have 'Roundabout' in our collections most likely have a clone of this plant (possibly a division of the original but that would be rare). Judges see lots and lots of these at shows and because they are clones of the original, they carry the same award designation as the original plant. In the AOS, in order for a flower that has already received a flower quality award to receive another award, it must be an award higher than the one it already has (keep in mind we're talking only flower quality awards here). So if any Why Not 'Roundabout' were to receive another flower quality award it would have to be an FCC (90-100points). This is a big feat to accomplish and rarely happens. I think only once in my years in the AOS program did I ever see an upgrade in a flower quality award and it was from an HCC (75-79 points) to an AM (80-89 points). In that instance I think it's original award was 78 and its upgrade was 82. Because all of the 'Roundabouts' are clones, judges are effectively seeing the exact same plant over and over again.
Now to look at the first part of the post about judging being all about what is trendy or challenging. If current breeding interests are considered "trendy" then judges are certainly always dealing with what's trendy because they are constantly seeing new hybrids. But being new or trendy does not automatically make a plant more likely to be awarded. Actually to the contrary, flowers resulting from a new trend in hybridizing are often passed over for flower quality awards because the "bugs" have not yet been worked out. A good example of this is the Harlequin Phals. Many of the first generation harlequins were passed over for flower quality awards because their forms were not awardable forms. Now we're into our 3rd, 4th generation of harlequin breeding and the flower forms are to the point where the flowers can be awarded. This illustrates the point that judges have certain qualities they look for when judging for flower quality and that some trendy breeds have those qualities while others do not.
The question of whether an orchid is a challenge to grow is not a factor in judging for flower quality. It is considered when judging for a cultural award, but judging for culture is more concerned with how well the plant is grown and flowered. Even if a plant is extremely difficult to grow in cultivation it still must be well grown and flowered in order to be considered for a cultural award.