2020 Pre-Fair Judging Information: GUIDELINES

Scheduling & Format: Pre-fair judging will still be held July 20-24 as originally scheduled (Mon - Foods and Clothing, Tues - Photography, Wed - Creative Arts and Creative Writing, Thurs - Special Interest and Fri - Woodworking). We have uploaded all pre-fair schedules below.

You will note that the format of the scheduling has changed (from past years) from individual time slots to group judging slots. This is because we plan to judge projects a little differently this year. Due to social distancing requirements, crowd size restrictions, traffic flow expectations and space limitations, we are going to do judging similar in nature to a science fair. Exhibitors will come in to the Beige Building (note the location change!) and be assigned a space in which they will set up their project display and accompanying materials. Judges will then circulate around the space and judge projects at a distance, as opposed to the face-to-face, close contact interviews we have held in the past. Exhibitors will sit/stand alongside their project and wait for the judge to "visit" their project and ask questions. Once the judge has spent time with all youth and viewed all projects in a given group, the group will be directed to tear down their display and move to an assigned waiting area during judges deliberations and award announcements. The next group will come in and set up and so on and so forth. We have created the group scheduling with the same time frame in mind; this means that most exhibitors will still get approximately 10 minutes to share their project experience with the judge.

We ask that exhibitors and their families DO NOT arrive any more than 10 minutes before their scheduled judging time. This will keep us from having too large of a crowd in the space. Additional details about what to expect that week as it relates to waiting areas, sanitation, traffic flow, parking, awards, etc. will be sent no later than the second Friday in July. In general, the Ohio 4-H In-Person Activities and Events guidelines will be followed during pre-fair judging. Please familiarize yourself with these guidelines in advance of judging: go.osu.edu/shelbyreturntoinperson

Guidelines for Projects: As to what youth and their projects are judged on, many details will remain the same as they always have. Scoresheets have not changed and guidelines for most projects are a duplicate of 2019. Scoresheet and guidelines are linked below. Please overlook any and all references to the Ohio State Fair, as it was cancelled this year. There will not be any Ohio State Fair qualifiers for 2020, nor any Ohio State Fair qualifier rosettes being handed out. That said, we will be giving out some special, additional awards this year, including a new SUPERLATIVE award for exhibitors who have went above and beyond in their project book work! We also still plan to award Best of Class, Outstanding of the Day and Honorable Mention awards. Details on how these will be awarded will be sent by the second Friday in July.

A few other department specific things to note:

- Foods: Instead of bringing an actual food sample, foods exhibitors will instead be asked to bring a photo story (photographs, album, scrapbook, collage, binder, portfolio, display board, any other type of visual display, etc.) of at least one recipe they made from the book. Exhibitors will still bring a table setting display, recipe card and balanced menu per the guidelines.

- Clothing: Exhibitors will put their outfit on a mannequin as opposed to wearing it themselves. We encourage exhibitors to take pictures of themselves or even bring video of them wearing the outfit from all angles to share "fit" details with the judges. 

- Woodworking: Exhibitors will not participate in the hands-on skillathon component of judging this year.

- Creative Writing: Entries should be submitted to the OSU Extension office by Friday, July 10. At that time, you can sign up for a judging time OR you can call 937-498-7239 (Tuesday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) to schedule your judging time. Judging will be held on Creative Arts day, Wednesday, July 22 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Virtual Accommodations: We will offer a virtual judging opporutnity for families who are not comfortable and/or able to attend in-person judging. Exhibitors should still be prepared to be judged during their assigned time slot. As opposed to "manning their judging station," they will be given a Zoom URL to log-in to. A computer will be placed at the station and, when the judge comes around, the exhibitor will visit with the judge and share their project just as they would in person. If so desired, exhibitors can drop project materials off at the Extension Office before July 20 and the JFB will set the actual project display up at the table alongside the computer. For more specific information, please email me at dietrich.145@osu.edu if you have not already done so.

Not Seeing Your Name on the Schedule?: If you don't see your exhibitor's name on the schedules posted, please email me at dietrich.145@osu.edu so I can identify why they are not on the schedule and figure out which time group to assign them to. If you did not do a Fair Entry via shelbycounty.fairentry.com to indicate your intent to participate in pre-fair judging, you have not been assigned a timeslot.

Scratches: We hate to see you go! But, if you do decide it is necessary to scratch a project, please fill out our new online scratch form at go.osu.edu/shelbyscratch. Refrain from calling or emailing scratches in, as these can easily get lost in translation among the many hands working in our office. Online is the best, simplest and most effective way to submit a scratch to us. PLEASE submit all scratches by the second Friday in July so that we can make necessary changes to the judging schedules well in advance. 

Monday, July 20
Foods - Schedule | Guidelines | Scoresheet
Clothing - Schedule | Guidelines | Scoresheet | Narration Card

Tuesday, July 21
Photography - Schedule | Guidelines | Scoresheet

Wednesday, July 22
Creative Arts - Schedule | Guidelines | Scoresheets
Creative Writing - Scoresheet 

Thursday, July 23
Special Interest - Schedule | Scoresheets

Friday, July 24
Woodworking - Schedule | Guidelines | Scoresheet

Other Events:

Sunday, July 26
Style Revue - Program - Coming soon!

Thursday, July 30
Cloverbuds Share Day