I have a long history in dog shows ... and nothing that I've seen so far can trump the shenanigans that happen at those.
Advertising. Many of you may not know it, but there are several dog magazines that have very slick advertising - including the cover page. Cost is upwards of $1000/page. Dogs are pictured with well known judges taking BIS. Is it wrong? Well, there ARE two reasons to advertise dogs - one is the same reason this original post started - to get the judges eye. The other reason is show pictures of your dog to other owners of that breed as we are all looking for the next stud dog, or dam to our next puppy. So if the original person's intention was to show the dog to her partners in the breed ... is it wrong if the judges also see it?? For quilters .... WE are also benefiting from seeing the pictures of the quilts are we not? So who is to say that the quilters intention of publishing the quilt is to garner a judges eye or "share" with the quilting world a technique in progress? I remember last year one of our own members posted here on QB a picture of a stunning Baltimore Album with beautiful ships when it was accepted into Paducah. Was that wrong because she shared it with US? Remember - anyone with internet can see what we post here, including Paducah judges.
As to some of the other remarks regarding entering winning quilts in multiple shows, showing quilts older than a specific date, entering quilts made from kits ... I think the shows that don't specify rules that limit this are at fault. If a show simply states "quilt must be 80 x 80" for this category, why blame the quilter for entering the show? I know some shows limit the year the work was produced, quilts that won 1st place cannot be accepted, and kits are not allowed.
I would disagree that quilt shows be segregated to professional and amateur. What classifies a "professional"? Teaching? I would disagree that being a teacher automatically means the person is also a good quilter. What about people who's only source of "income" from quilting is to win prize money at shows? I don't think "winning prize money" is the same as "getting paid to make a quilt". For that matter judges - professional or amateur? And what about the amateur who gets paid once to attach a binding once for someone - technically this person is now a professional regardless of the fact that they've never won a single award at a show. Lastly ... I think that quilting is an area where amateurs and professionals CAN compete with each other. There should be nothing other than skill that is judged and nothing is stopping an amateur from developing the same skills.
Sharing recognition. I know some quilt shows require that the pattern be divulged (even if it was BASED on a pattern) and the quilter (although the name of the person entering the show is usually the piecer and the only one to get prize money - if their contract with the quilter is to share the money - that is their business). I don't recall ever seeing a space to name the binder specifically but I do know some entry forms ask "name all people who worked on this quilt" or something to that effect. So again I would say that show entry forms need to be specific. If they want this data to be an important aspect of judging - then they need to specify it on the form.
If none of this information is on the form (dates, no kits, who quilted it, won prior shows, etc) then it is not something the judge should concern themselves with. Judges are hired to adjucate quilts based on the criteria set forth in the rules/entry forms - and beyond that the demonstrated skill and beauty of the final product. The name of the quilter and his/her past performance in the quilting world should never influence a judge even though his/her work may be as recognizable as the Mona Lisa. Nor should the judge be influenced by friendship.
Quilt judging, like dog judging IS subjective and therefore no two judges will always think alike, and any single judge can (and often will) think differently about the same quilt on different days and under different competition. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if Paducah and Houston had the same judge and a quilt one big at one show but not the other - depending on A) the competition and B) the frame of mind of the judge on that given day. I've judged dogs and I KNOW that on different days I've liked different dogs - some of it could be how the dog performed on the given day but performance is only one factor, other factors could have been if I saw nothing but bad fronts all day long then I may be more critical toward fronts the remainder of the day and overly criticize a dog that I liked a lot before but only has a mediocre front.
Judges are human. If we want them to adjudicate a specific way we have to give them the proper rules to do so, and after that we need to remember that the nature of this beast is that judging is subjective.
Sue (who fully intends on entering the quilt she is binding today in a quilt show somewhere soon - PICTURES TO COME!!)