Criteria for qualifying as a Senior Judge
The CPA supports the expansion of the qualification criteria to become a senior judge to include multiple prize winners at Gold Medal and A Light Music level at the AG and NM, subject to confirmation by the Joint Committee for Judges, on recommendation of the Senior Judges' members of the Committee, that they have met the standard required to be a Senior Judge.
 
Premier Graded Players Judging at Major Competitions
The CPA supports the qualification of active competing pipers who are Premier graded players to judge up to B grade level events at any major competition, subject to confirmation by the Joint Committee for Judges, on recommendation by the Senior Judges' members of the Committee, that they have met the standard required to judge at this level.
 
Judging of Pupils
The CPA recommends that the judging of pupils should be avoided at every competition level.
However it accepts that the current pool of Senior Judges is relatively small and this is proving difficult to attain at major competitions.  In order to provide a workable solution going forward, in the short term, and pending expansion of the list of approved judges, providing that reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that judges invited to judge a competition do not have pupils competing, for judging benches of 3 or more, the CPA can accept a situation where judges may have pupils competing in that competition.
However, any judges with a potential conflict of interest in this regard must declare this to their fellow judges, regardless of whether or not they believe it impacts their ability to judge objectively.  The CPA recommends that the Joint any judges found not to be in compliance should be censured by the Joint Committee for Judging in order that the process is seen to be working as transparently as possible.
 
For judging benches of less than 3, the CPA recommends that the judging of pupils is avoided.

Performance Critique Policy Statement

The Competing Pipers’ Association:

·    Believes that feedback provides transparency in the judging process, and enables competitive performers to identify areas for further development.
·    Supports the provision of feedback to competitors through assessment sheets at all competitive levels.
·    Respects the willingness of judges to provide feedback and the opinions provided.
·    Does not specify any particular template format, in fact we recommend that judges be given maximum flexibility to provide written feedback in the style and manner they feel comfortable with.
·    Asks that judges provide:
- Comments on quality of phrasing, technique, bagpipe sound and overall musical impression. 
- Any further observations that they feel would benefit the performer.


Competing Pipers’ Association
January 2008 
 

Download the policy statement - here