The Journey to Become a CFA Judge

It’s a Long-Term Commitment

Vicki Nye
CFA Judging Program Co-Chair

Where does it start? Perhaps a visit to a cat show, an image on social media, or even a friendship with a fellow cat fancier – something that has inspired or lit a passion in you to be a part of this hobby. You’re a newbie. You may even have a pedigreed cat, and you embark on a journey to learn as much as you can about your breed.

Let’s begin with a cat show. You might attend one as a spectator, watching all the beautiful cats being handled by the person behind the table. You scour the internet to learn about what showing a cat entails. You learn about grooming, about what supplies you might need for a cat show. You enter your cat in a local show. The big day arrives and you appear with your cat, check in, and you are directed to seat yourself at a spot surrounded with people you do not know. Everyone is busy primping their cat to be ready to present it to a judge in a ring. You ask questions, you admire the cats around you and you finally get to take your cat to a ring for that first judgement. Then you discover your cat does not seem to be competitive as it’s not earning coveted brown ribbons or finals. You are determined to learn about what you need to do with your beloved cat. You make friends who give you great advice. Your friends help you decide how you should breed your cat and look to the next generation. Fast forward a year: you have bred your cat, and you have a kitten to show. Things are looking up … your kitten is more competitive. As you look around, you realize there are other breeds that you admire and you want to learn about them, too. You see that in every judging ring there is an assistant nearby and you now know it is the ring clerk, who gets to see every cat up close as the judge handles it. Eventually you learn about clerking and begin to assist the chief ring clerk at shows. The judges share their knowledge when they speak about the cats.

As you gain experience clerking, your interest in each breed grows. You have learned that each breed has a standard; you seek to learn how each cat meets or does not meet their standard. And you decide you want to be a judge. Now, what? Actually, you have already started on that path by learning about your breed standard, and perhaps some about the other breeds you have admired at the shows. You watch the judge handling your cat and its competition, comparing and sizing up the other cats. A thirst for knowledge inspires you to have a dream: “I can do that, I want to be a judge – but how?” Your journey has begun.

The CFA judging program has a very structured training regimen that each judge is expected to complete with satisfactory evaluations at each step in the process. Even before a breeder/exhibitor applies to the CFA Judging Program, they must meet the requirements in the specialty for which they are applying. These applicants already have experience in breeding, showing, show production, and the procedures and rules of CFA. There are very good reasons for each requirement in the program, and enjoying while completing each of them will help you to become a successful trainee. There is a lot of paperwork required of a judge, where accuracy is key. This entails understanding the “mechanics” of how to hang ribbons, and how to correctly assemble a final. Obtaining a ring clerking license and even a master clerk license will help you practice these skills of accurate paperwork so that once you are training, you can focus on things like decision-making, evaluating a cat’s structure compared to the breed standard, and refining your handling ability. Having experience showing other breeds in your specialty in addition to your primary breed will soften that learning curve. There are 12 longhair breeds, and 33 shorthair breeds (not including longhair and shorthair varieties of several breeds, or the multiple divisions of Persians and Exotics). Those are a lot of breed standards to learn, and learn to apply while handling an exhibit. The additional breed showing requirement in your specialty will help you learn various body types and attributes of some of these other breeds while you are still a pre-applicant. Cattery visits, or “Breed Focused Experiences” which occur at a CFA show, will also build on your knowledge of these other breeds, and afford you the opportunity for a breeder’s viewpoint and evaluation of their cats. As a pre-applicant to the judging program, you are beginning your education of other breed attributes and qualities well before acceptance into the judging program. There is much reading and material to absorb, and it’s best to be familiar with and have a good understanding of CFA’s Show Rules, Judging Program rules, and breed standards (all available at: https://cfa.org/judges-resources/ ) before submitting your application to the judging program.

How does a breeder/exhibitor learn to handle cats? Well, first they learn to handle their own breed while evaluating their kittens when grooming them and getting them used to being shown. I think most judges will agree that we gained our initial knowledge of handling by watching other judges evaluating our cats, then by sitting in the ring as a clerk and watching the judge handle all the breeds. We learned our base knowledge by emulating judges we aspire to be like. Keen observation is the first step in learning to handle other breeds on the judging table.

Before applying to the CFA judging program, the pre-applicant must attend a Breed Awareness and Orientation School (BAOS). This school encompasses two days of classroom presentations and participation, plus hands-on allbreed judge-supervised breed handling at the associated cat show. A guide has been written to assist the first-time ring handling attendee called Handling With A Purpose. We want the attendees to get the most out of this experience, and it’s not just the accomplishment of being able to get the cat out of the cage and get it to the table safely, though that is very important. The handling at the BAOS is supervised, and that judge will coach the attendee through handling techniques on these cats to evaluate the breed attributes while making it a good experience for the participant cat.

So, now that the pre-applicant has met the requirements to apply to the judging program, submitted their application and been approved by the CFA Executive Board, the “one on one” training will begin with their assigned file administrator. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to work with very experienced CFA allbreed judges who are excited to share their knowledge with trainees. The file administrator will encourage the trainee to discuss with their mentor the training judges and shows where they would like to train. File administrators will try to accommodate a judge request if possible. The goal, however, is to provide the trainee with the best suited allbreed judge assignment. We have several judges who are excellent at taking trainees for their first training assignment, and others who we like to use as they are superb handlers. Each training assignment should build on the knowledge and skills that a trainee has successfully accomplished at their prior training sessions.

A bit about the phrase “having an eye,” which typically refers to that intrinsic ability to pick out a good cat. This is a gift, which not all judges have initially. It is an ability that can be acquired though, through dedicated study, practice, and experience.

There are typically six one on one training sessions, the first three of which are called “supervised training.” The judge will take the cat out of the cage, handle and evaluate, then pass the cat on to the trainee to handle and return to the judging cage. The judge marks their book with their decision, and the trainee marks their book with theirs and also must make short breed standard-based comments next to each entry. These comments should enlighten the reader as to why each cat was awarded their ribbons. Handling coaching usually occurs during the time the cat is out on the table, specific to the skills needed to judge each breed. For example, the judge may demonstrate the proper way to hold a Persian cat while feeling the skull for smooth round structure, depth of the break, and ear placement without the cat backing off the table. Typically, once the breed has been completed, the judge and trainee will face the cats (backs to the audience) to discuss the trainee’s decision. The trainee is expected to support their decisions with breed standard justification. The judge will then hang ribbons as they had previously marked in their book, and release those cats from the ring. You can now understand why it takes a lot longer for a judge to complete their judging schedule when they have a trainee. Once the handling is completed, the trainee is expected to put together a final on paper. The judge at this point will present their own final, based only on their judging evaluations. The trainee will carefully review their paperwork, and provide the judge with copies of their show paperwork. Once the judge returns home, they will review the trainee’s entire body of paperwork, the finals in comparison to their own, and write up a training report, which is then shared with the trainee, their mentor, the Judging Program Committee and the CFA Executive Board. The trainee will scan and send their paperwork to their file administrator for review. The file administrators do indeed read all the comments on each of the cats, and review their paperwork for accuracy and mechanical correctness. The file administrator will discuss the evaluation with the trainee and make suggestions for improvement from the training judge’s observations.

Once a trainee successfully completes three supervised training sessions with positive evaluations, they will then do three solo sessions. The solo session differs from the supervised session, in that written comments are not required on each entry, and the trainee will judge the cats just as the ring judge would – one cat right after the other – then the trainee will hang ribbons per their own decisions. The trainee will also present a final to the audience. They are expected to handle the cats appropriately for their breed and make a few comments about their most outstanding characteristics. As incredible as it sounds, once the executive board reviews the trainee’s work documented in the judges’ evaluations, and vote to advance to an apprentice judge, they will be ready to accept judging contracts in their specialty. From applicant to apprentice, they have been inspired by the varied qualities of the beautiful feline breeds admired at their first show. Now they get to handle and evaluate all those cats that lit a passion in them at their first cat show.

All judges continue to learn and share their knowledge while refining their craft. Even those CFA judges with decades of judging experience gain knowledge as new breeds are accepted, breed councils alter their standards, and existing breeds are improved with each generation of breeding, always looking for the “perfect cat.”