A merchant marks a price on a piece of merchandise and advertises it for sale. But when customers attempted to purchase the item at the advertised price, the merchant declares that on a re-examination of his invoice he discovered an error in pricing had been made, and there would be no sale of the merchandise until the sale price is properly corrected. In so doing, the merchant, in searching for a need to re-examine his invoice commits a second mistake, as the item should have been sold at the advertised price in spite of his so-called miscalculation. An art competition was recently judged at the National Gallery of Art, and the competitors were notified of the Judge’s decision. A catalogue was then instructed to be printed in which the final decision of the judges was to be documented. But in a bizarre case of unprofessional sentiment, the competitor who was awarded the first and third place finishes was called back the next day and told there has been a blatant miscalculation in the advertised decision, and in reality not even an honourable mention was had by him. One has to think that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. From the first place position plus two honourable mentions, there are five positions to be jumped. What kind of error could have caused a first place finisher to be completely wiped off the prize listing? What was the motivation that prompted a re-examination of their original judgement?
And this act was not even conducted by the judges themselves, but by a Gallery official who questioned the results. The judging of any competition should be based solely on the expertise of the judges in determining the most outstanding works entered. Good high quality art should be the criterion, good art regardless of style and the identity of the authors, and should not be based on sentiment and the encouragement of new talent. It goes without saying that though sentimental encouragement has its place in the career of an aspiring professional it hampers the ability of their limits being pushed.
A judge should be capable of understanding the communicative essence of a piece of work. They should have an open aesthetic to a broad range of styles, and have a judging system which is foolproof. One has to question the system and motive which allowed the decision which should have been final to be re-examined, if there were miscalculations in judgement, how wide was the window of error. This is not a system of judiciary in which a decision can be appealed. It is my professional opinion that the original decision advertised should have been kept in place and maintained as the workings of a professional judge. Competitions have an alluring factor about them, but when tainted they discourage participation.