Not Your Mother’s Cat Show

August 21, 2025

Judging “Down Under” is Different

(Third of a three part series about judging in different associations)

Nancy Dodds, CFA Allbreed Judge

(photos courtesy of Armindale and New England Cat Club, New South Wales)

In late spring of 2024, I was invited as a CFA guest judge to two shows a week apart and at opposite ends of the vast country of Australia. The clubs belonged to different associations within the country; the first was held in Armidale, New South Wales, and the second in Perth. These shows provided a window into a very different experience from our usual format and procedures at CFA shows in the USA. One of the distinct differences is the bay judging format for which Australia is known. There, the cats are benched by breed, including kittens, and whole and neutered adults. Each breed is benched separately from other breeds in a ring format that resembles a “bay.” To me, it is similar to CFA’s U-shaped judging area, with a judging table in front of the bay. The judges move from “bay” to “bay” according to the schedule of judging. The owners or exhibitors sit in seats in front of every judging table.

Each judge is provided with a steward, similar to our clerks in CFA, but with the additional duty of bringing each cat from its benching cage to the judge’s table. The stewards also keep records of the judge’s choices. Oftentimes the steward is working to become a judge, and stewarding requires being able to handle the cats comfortably.

At one time in Australia, the cats were benched in each bay in small cube-like cages with 2-foot dimensions. These were metal enclosures, with white sides, tops and bottoms. Often, the cats had no litter pans available until there was a break in the schedule and the owners could tend to them. Today, cats are benched in much larger enclosures which are decorated with silk curtains and have litter pans, food, and water available. Cats are benched in an area close to the judging tables – no longer in the “bay” style, but close enough so ring stewards can easily bring the cats to the judge. Upon the owner’s request, a mat or rug was taken along with the cat to the judge’s table for the cat to stand on and be more sure of its footing.

This time, we used tablets to document our rankings online. The information presented in the tablet contained the cat’s breed, color, and age – but no titles. All breeds in the adult Championship class were judged by group, and the groupings were similar those in FIFe, Groups 1, 2, and 3:

Group 1: Birman, Exotic, Maine Coon Cat, Norwegian Forest Cat, Persian, Ragdoll, Siberian, Turkish Van

Group 2: Oriental Shorthair, Siamese, Balinese

Group 3: Bengal, British Shorthair, Cornish Rex, Devon Rex, Scottish Fold, Somali, Sphynx

The only drawback to the tablets they used was that there was no place to make any private comments about the cat, good or bad, which required me to keep those notes in a separate notebook. It was quite a bit of work to keep up, because there was nothing in print in addition to the tablet. My notebook is full of what would have been the judge’s book, had it been printed.

At the end of each grouping of the Championship adults, I was asked to choose the best champion of the breed (entry numbers of the champions were given to the judges separately, with points earned for higher titles based on those awards). I also named the best male and the best female of each breed I handled, and the best of breed overall plus the “reserve” (second best of breed). Finally, I chose a top 10 from the entire group.

Each judge was also assigned a specific “ring” – not a physical ring, but a category, so each judge’s rankings via the tablets could be tracked. Apart from the adult championship classes, at the first show I was asked to judge a Rex Specialty that included Cornish Rex, Devon Rex, and Sphynx (there is discussion of adding Lykoi to this group as another breed with a coat mutation). And there was also a judging of litters in which kittens from the same litter competed against litters of other breeds, and each judge chose their “best litter.”

In this show “down under,” there were companion cats present and judged (the equivalent of our Household Pet classes), as well as an agility group. The agility “competition” was by no means competitive, but just for fun. Done on a table instead of on the floor as we see it in CFA, the exercise featured one small bar to jump over, a hoop to go through, and a small tunnel. The agility table was set up after the more serious judging was complete, when exhibitors could get their cats to try it out.

After my judging was finished, I talked with one of the Siberian exhibitors who shared her experience with the breed. One breed-specific anomaly I noticed was that some of the Siberians exhibited the Corin gene (with wider golden banding on the hair shaft, adding a golden or “sunshine” color to the coat). Interestingly, there was nothing in their standard to prevent them from showing and breeding these cats.

Overall, the exhibitors seemed to be younger than what we see in CFA shows in the USA, and many appeared to be less familiar with the standards of the breeds they were showing. But they were all enthusiastic and stayed to the end of the show, when the final presentations were made.

Sponsorships were simply amazing, with many prizes donated by generous sponsors. In one of the shows, they donated cat carriers for the winners. There were also cat food, vitamins, and cat-friendly items just like our CFA shows at home.

It was an amazing experience to be a part of the Australian way of judging. Our hosts and exhibitors were very friendly and welcoming, and the cats were clearly well-loved by their owners.