From the Scorers’ Desks
Paula Noble
Grand & National/Regional Scoring
While Cathy Dunham and I are working hard to get your shows scored and results posted timely, there are some things we’ve found that exhibitors can do to improve the speed and accuracy to accomplish this.
CFA show rule 6.23 states in part:
“It is the responsibility of the exhibitor to ensure, prior to (their) arrival at the show, that an entry form for each of (their) cats/kittens entered in the show has been received by the entry clerk prior to the close of entries.”1
One of the main things repeatedly seen across CFA is that many exhibitors fail to read their confirmations received from the entry clerks and are unaware of errors in the entry information until they get to the show hall. Many still don’t review the information in the catalog so when the show goes in for scoring that typo in your entry’s registration number or in the cat’s name results in the scoring software indicating that “this cat is not registered with CFA.” We must stop what we are doing and go to another file to look up the cat to see if it is in fact registered with CFA , then identify the correct registration number. We currently do this as a courtesy due to the change in scoring software, but will soon be enforcing the above show rule. If you could take 5-10 minutes to review your confirmation from the entry clerk to verify the information, it is entirely possible that errors could be fixed before the catalog is printed. If, for whatever reason, that does not happen, please spend 5-10 minutes reviewing your entries in the catalog before the show starts. Many corrections could be dealt with during the announcing of absentees & transfers. We’ve seen several entries that were not the entry the exhibitor intended to enter when they showed up at a show with the cat they thought they entered. Only then did the exhibitor discover that the catalog entry was a different cat. If they had reviewed their confirmation, this could have been corrected prior to the show and the catalog being printed.
I remember 20+ years ago, right before the show started, either the master clerk or someone on the show committee made an announcement to remind exhibitors to check their entry information in the catalog. If exhibitors found an error, they were instructed to go to the master clerk’s area to complete a catalog correction. In the past 5-10 years that reminder has all but disappeared. I have begun adding that back to shows I addend and have heard positive comments back from exhibitors. Please check your confirmations timely and double check your entry/entries in the printed catalog before the show starts just in case!! Thank you all for your help!
[1] The Cat Fanciers’ Association, Inc. Show Rules 2024-2025 Season, Section 6.23