general store painting competition rules?

[Brother Nathan]

May well be in the wrong place so sorry if so in advance mods. so one of my gaming buddies went to a non serious painting competition in a gaming store(primarily a coffee shop that has gaming in it) and a few of the ways it was ran has left me curious as to how the non serious events are usually ran in other places. 

 

so for this mini competition it was £5 entry and they got a primed mini and 2 hours to paint (paints and undercoats supplied but better to bring your own) then submit. Then all painters and spectators voted and top 3 announced and awarded.

 

over a dozen entry's etc and so looks a good event and if i wasnt working it would have been fun to attend and good community building but i was curious as to how it compared to other stores as imho my buddy didn't place despite being a better painter than most of the competition and there was a lot of tactical and buddy voting. how does this compare to your own local stores? 

 

As an add on when i worked in a gaming store we did similarly though allowed the models home with the competitors and game them a week and a panel of store judges picked the winners. That however was several years ago and many things such as voting in many such situations has changed. So how does this compare to your LGS? 

Edited April 23, 2023 by Brother nathan

[Grotsmasha]

I think mine uses anonymous polling, Entry number on a voting slip.

[Lord_Ikka]

I've done various painting competitions in the last couple of years. In general, I see three judging systems- 

 

A. The judges are store employees/designated paint judges from outside the ranks of competition. The submissions are anonymous, so the judges have no indication of who painted what.

 

B. Open voting, where any/everyone can vote (usually anonymously via paper slip), and the painters can be either known or anonymous. 

 

C. Combo of the two, usually comes with two sets of prizes. There will be a judging of entries by impartial judges like A, and then a "fan-favorite" judging from everybody like option B. Usually the fan-favorite gets a prize similar to 3rd place in the independent judging.

 

For me, option C is the best. I'm not a fan of polling everyone because of issues like buddy voting, so either have it completely independent and anonymous or hybrid it so that the potential buddy votes won't be able to get top prize.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Lord_Ikka

[Xenith]

16 hours ago, Brother nathan said:

there was a lot of tactical and buddy voting

 

That's a shame, but don't hate the player, hate the game - they won in the end, though it's not the best system. I'd advocate for blind judging, so no names attached to models, or an impartial judge to critique and assess the 2hours work done. Taking the things home is also not-100% as friends, family members could help, or they could wapfor a prevusly painted model, if it's a standard GW demo one etc. 

[Brother Nathan]

Thanks for replys. Not looking to hate in on any of the participants and honestly the winner was the right choice. Think im going to do a trial to see how i can do in two hours for my own mind comparison... if anyone would like to try i could even run such as a post?

[Firedrake Cordova]

It sucks if voting was less than objective.  

 

The one time I entered a competition was a "Golden Snotling" event run at a GW store about 20 years ago - rather unsurprisingly, the judging was done by the staff. I think it may have been blind, as the names were put on a sticker on the underside of the base (so not readily visible). The person who won (obviously not me!) went on to get a Golden Demon a few years later, so I think the staff did a reasonable job!  

 

14 hours ago, Brother nathan said:

Think im going to do a trial to see how i can do in two hours for my own mind comparison... if anyone would like to try i could even run such as a post?

Oh man, I don't think I'd manage to get an infantry model base coated in that time!   

Edited April 25, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova

[Grotsmasha]

17 hours ago, Brother nathan said:

if anyone would like to try i could even run such as a post?

 

Like, just for yourself? Or a perpetual 2hr challenge thread that people could all post their 2hr results? Both would be good, but if you like the second, I'd be willing to have it pinned

[Brother Nathan]

The second. Im ready to do it just thought its an interesting marker to show differences in skillsets and such with a time limit may help inspire/help people realise how much extra time the pros put in etc. So for sure ill make a post and get started on it!

 

...best spot to post?

Edited April 25, 2023 by Brother nathan

[Grotsmasha]

2 choices, if we'd like before and after pics, and B&C post times to corroborate the 2hrs, then the WIP forum would be best, if we just want to see the finished model and take it on good faith that it's a 2hr paint job then Hall of Honour suits best

[Brother Nathan]

On 4/24/2023 at 7:06 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

It sucks if voting was less than objective.  

 

The one time I entered a competition was a "Golden Snotling" event run at a GW store about 20 years ago - rather unsurprisingly, the judging was done by the staff. I think it may have been blind, as the names were put on a sticker on the underside of the base (so not readily visible). The person who won (obviously not me!) went on to get a Golden Demon a few years later, so I think the staff did a reasonable job!  

 

This to me seems fairly fair voted nominations rather than actual placement. I dont like buddy votes. And whilst staff should enter to boost numbers etc should be exempt from placing. Can be a seperate golden brush catagory in such events