Introduction
This page aims to provide club syllabus and competition secretaries with all that they will need to book judges and lecturers and give feedback on their performance. Please remember that all judges and lecturers are volunteers. YPU has some 43 Judges & 31 Lecturers, whose subject matter is varied and many lecturers have several presentations.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of virtual presentations has become commonplace. To identify those judges and lecturers who offer video conferencing as a means of judging work or giving talks, many entries are now marked with a V which denotes ‘prepared to use virtual platform’.
Booking and hosting a Judge
During the currency of the PAGB handbook up to date revised lists of judges are sent to Club Secretaries and Club Competition Secretaries from time to time via the YPU Portal. It is usually best to make the first inquiry by telephone or email to ensure the requirements and format of your proposal are acceptable to the invitee. A mutually acceptable date can quickly be agreed upon by telephone or email and then followed up with the completed booking form. As a result of concerns about poor communications raised by some YPU judges a new Judge Booking and Reply form has been placed on the Downloads page. The pdf version is now one which can be filled and forwarded for completion by the judge. Also in this area is a Good Practice Guide for Clubs (Judges) and a Checklist for Judges. Please read these, follow the advice therein, and use these forms to ensure a successful visit to your club.
Booking and hosting a Lecturer
During the currency of the PAGB handbook up to date revised lists of lecturers and their lectures are sent to Club Secretaries from time to time via the YPU Portal. It is usually best to make the first enquiry by telephone or email to ensure the requirements and format of your proposal are acceptable to the invitee. You may also want more information about a lecture or presentation than can be included in these listings. A mutually acceptable date can quickly be agreed by telephone or email and then followed up with the completed booking form. A new Lecture Booking and Reply form has been placed on the Downloads page. The PDF version is now one which can be filled and forwarded for completion by the judge. Also in this area is a Good Practice Guide for Clubs (Lectures). Please read these, follow the advice therein, and use these forms to ensure a successful visit to your club.
Giving feedback on judges and lecturers
In order to obtain feedback on judges and lecturers there are assessment forms that can be downloaded from the Downloads page and sent to me. There are two versions of each. The Word templates can be completed and saved as either Word documents or pdfs. The pdf versions can be printed and completed by hand. Ideally, feedback should be the considered view of the club committee or group of members tasked with assembling the response before being sent in by the competition secretary. Once completed please email or mail the reports to me at the address shown on the form.
I encourage all clubs to give feedback but this is particularly important when Judges are new to the list.. Unless a club specifically asks me not to, I forward all feedback I receive to the judge or lecturer concerned so that they can learn to make any adjustments for future visits.
Would you like to become a YPU Judge?
The YPU is always on the lookout for keen volunteers who would like to share their knowledge by judging work at other clubs. We last ran workshops in 2018 and 2019 at Carleton near Pontefract and Driffield respectively and there is a clear necessity to run another one soon. Those who would like to be considered for future workshops should contact the Judge & Lecture List Secretary judges@ypu.org.uk so that they can be put on the waiting list for a future workshop.
New judges are placed on a Supplementary List circulated to YPU club officers and their progress is monitored. There is no Supplementary List currently as all those trained in 2018 and 2019 have now progressed to the published list in the PAGB handbook.
Would you like to give talks to YPU clubs?
Any club member with a good photography-based talk who considers they have the presentational skills to provide an interesting evening is urged to contact the Judge & Lecture List Secretary judges@ypu.org.uk with a view to being listed as a YPU Lecturer.
PAGB Handbook
This is published every other year and a single copy is sent to each club secretary. The current 2022/23 handbook was issued to Club Secretaries in Autumn 2021. The handbook reiterates many of the procedures for engaging judges and lecturers as covered in the documents in the Downloads Area on this page. The handbook lists all judges and lecturers accredited by other Federations. Some may be available to visit YPU clubs from neighbouring counties. It also gives details of the Recorded Lectures available for hire to clubs.
Alan Stopher CPAGB– November 2022 (Judge & Lecture List Secretary)