I've watched the local fair judges judge and the binding is the deciding factor. Any stitches can be seen, or any gaps in the stitches, big points off. But they do weight that against the over all construction and last the choice of colors. Machine or hand quilting doesn't matter unless it's a separate category. The Best in Show from them is the one that gives them all the Wow look at that and has no major construction flaws. Only the really bad quilts get no ribbon at all. The rest get at least a white ribbon (third place)