Finding a winner

It’s that time of the year. The season when almost every Saturday in my diary is booked from one year to the next.

There’s a village show almost every weekend around here and last Saturday was no different. It was the annual Bisley Flower Show

Once again, the tables were filled with prize fruits and vegetables, beautiful flowers, jars of jam, chutney and marmalade and of course, cakes.

I was judging the craft section and the children’s entries, which as usual were incredibly creative.

Decorated eggs, vegetable creatures and designs for book covers - when the tent was opened to the public, there was a rush to see who had won and a reminder of my responsibility to make a clear decision. No joint winners here - I need to be decisive and not pussyfoot around!

I have written about the process of finding a winner before and how enjoyable it is to give careful consideration to the smallest detail. I love to credit the skill and technical expertise that goes into a competition entry and admire the bravery of those who put their work on show. It’s often the smallest details that make the difference (as in the entry above, which I reviewed in another competition this year) and many shows include helpful tips and hints for competitors as a guide to what the judge is looking for.

As a judge, it’s important to have an agreed set of criteria to work with, for after all, we can’t just pick the winners based on our personal preferences, can we? The RHS sets out their own matrix of standards too and it’s there in use at the garden shows each year to make sure we all recognise excellence when we see it.

I was working from one of those lists of criteria again last week, reading through a number of entries for a rather different type of competition. This time, I wasn’t judging craft, or tradestands at a garden show but the annual UK Bus Awards, where I’d been invited to join a panel of judges once again this year. We had eight categories of written submissions to read through and select shortlists for, each one with a rationale and an explanation of what we were looking for.

Having made copious notes and a few long checklists in my little book, I met my colleagues in London yesterday and we worked our way through the eight categories one by one. The reassuring thing was, even though we had each made our own independent selections based on those given criteria, in every case we reached remarkably similar outcomes. Very satisfying! Later next month, those shortlisted in some categories will be invited for interview and I’ll look forward to the next stage in the process, when hopefully we’ll all agree on a winner.

The bonus yesterday was leaving the station and discovering the new Paddington Square development outside. For years, this entrance to the station has been grubby and rather scruffy; frequently a place for dumping rubbish too. Now, it’s all been cleaned and opened up and there’s evidence of a few new ventures right there - a Wahaca restaurant and a Kate Spade shop already, with more to come, including a new entrance to the existing tube station. At last, with the opening of the new Elizabeth Line station on the other side of the building, Paddington seems to be getting a facelift. I’m pleased about that!

Now, this weekend, the first Saturday in September, I was invited to judge another of my favourite shows but this year, I had to offer my regrets because we had other arrangements in place.

I had better go and begin the packing 😎