BBQ Contest Conflict of Interest?

No it is not

Nope.

No. The Board has no influence on how individual contests are scored. The purpose of the Board is to make decisions that show vision and support the future of the organization, not to be involved in minutia or day to day events such as what goes on at a contest.

big DITTO.

You need to have some BBQ folks on the boards putting on these things to make sure things are done right.

..and I can't see NOT participating in a local event.. especially if I've worked had to help put it together.

chainsmoker78 said:

Would your opinion's change if that team wins the majority of the events?

Click to expand...

A recently departed BOD was just that and nobody seemed to have a problem with it

If you believe in the system and it is truly blind judging, I don't care if the president of the US competes

Like asking if the officer of a corporation, say Coca Cola as an example, has a
conflict of interest if he were to drink Coke regularly...

No, no conflict whatsoever. Conflict would be if the BBQ Cook were to be judging
the same competition that he's entered. THAT would be a conflict.

My opinion would be exactly the same if they won 80% of the competitions in
the entire United States.

For that matter, if not represented by team(s), who would be on the board? For
what it's worth, other non-BBQ sanctioning bodies, CASI for example, are made up
100% of competition cooks....

chainsmoker78 said:

If it's not blind judging, is it a conflict? What is stopping judges from talking to a board member before a contest? People may not view that as a conflict, but if that board member is a contestant it seems like a problem.

Blind judging is very loosely defined. The turn-in boxes have teams names on them when the volunteers take it from you. Teams also have a signature presentation that works for them. That reason alone can make the presentation easily identifiable to a certain team.

Click to expand...

We have a cattle call to introduce yourself here.

chainsmoker78 said:

If it's not blind judging, is it a conflict? What is stopping judges from talking to a board member before a contest? People may not view that as a conflict, but if that board member is a contestant it seems like a problem.

Blind judging is very loosely defined. The turn-in boxes have teams names on them when the volunteers take it from you. Teams also have a signature presentation that works for them. That reason alone can make the presentation easily identifiable to a certain team.

Click to expand...

If never seen a turn-in box with a team name on it.. just a number.

chainsmoker78 said:

If it's not blind judging, is it a conflict? What is stopping judges from talking to a board member before a contest? People may not view that as a conflict, but if that board member is a contestant it seems like a problem.

Blind judging is very loosely defined. The turn-in boxes have teams names on them when the volunteers take it from you. Teams also have a signature presentation that works for them. That reason alone can make the presentation easily identifiable to a certain team.

Click to expand...

Judges fraternizing with contestants on turn in day is a big no-no. In fact I know of situations where judges have been asked to leave due to excessive time spent on a competators site. Now if the judge passes a site and keeps their distance yet says hello and the normal greetings that is fine.

Blind judging is far from loosely defined. The KCBS reps do a great job of assuring no one gets an unfair advantage. Teams are assigned turn in boxes with numbers not names and these numbers are covered with a new number before they go to the judges.

Each team has a way they like to build their box that is true but also realize how many are copied as well. I know of a few chicken boxes that are exactly the same in presentation. Do I know who's hit the table? No. If the box is so clearly defined then it will be DQ'ed for marking.

Is there a possibility that a judge will find themselves on a table with food from a friend of theirs......Yes it is possible. Is it possible that they will then be able to identify it? Yes that is possible too. Is it possible that the judge will then compromise their integrity and judge up on the submission. Yes that is possible too. But the probability of all those things coming together on any given saturday or sunday and improbable. All that is running through my mind is "...on the fourth of July, in a hailstorm, with one black eye and one baby zebra." Its a stretch to even consider let alone think its grounds for a change in protocol.

I believe you were at a non sanctioned backyard comp?

chainsmoker78 said:

I was visiting a comp. a few weeks back here in FL and I noticed the team's boxes had a label that not only included the team name but a number as well. I am thinking about putting together a team, but I question some of the rules. After all, from what I can tell, it can cost a pretty penny to enter some of the cash prize comps.

Click to expand...

It is possible that the name you saw was there because the team missed the cooks meeting and the rep put a name on it to make sure it made it to that team. It probably wasn't on all four or more just one to make sure it went to the right place or wasn't clean up as extra.

chainsmoker78 said:

I was visiting a comp. a few weeks back here in FL and I noticed the team's boxes had a label that not only included the team name but a number as well. I am thinking about putting together a team, but I question some of the rules. After all, from what I can tell, it can cost a pretty penny to enter some of the cash prize comps.

Click to expand...

I've never seen a team name on a box. Was that a FBA contest you visited? I don't think there's been a KCBS contest in FL during Sept/Oct.

I'm pretty confident that there would be more than a few cooks pitching a fit if they thought there was something shady going.