There are a number of quilt categories that judges cover, but I will just deal with traditional quilts for purposes of this article.

Workmanship is always an important criteria in traditional quilts. Some of the basics we look for is a quilt that lies flat (though we always look at how it is hung), a quilt that does not have wavy edges, one where the batting fills the binding, and binding that is not too wide unless it is truly complementary to the overall design. We do look at stitches for even tension of stitching, smooth starts and stops, and whether there is an overall even amount of quilting on the quilt so that no specific parts puff out.

For design, we look for a balanced design, one that does not take your eye off the quilt or confuse the eye. As far as visual effects, we look for something where all parts seem to work together well--scale of parts of the quilt and scale of the quilting compared to the design. To give you an idea what this means, sometimes a very delicate design is quilted with huge stippling or other quilt design that does not fit the quilt well.

Primary and secondary quilting on a traditional quilt is always a good thing with judges. Primary quilting is that part of the quilt that actually looks like a design--a wreath, feathers, florals, etc. The secondary quilting is the grid or diagonal or straight lines in the quilt. We like to see imagination or well thought out quilting designs--ones that truly fit the design overall. It rarely works well to quilt any quilt with one overall design such as stippling. Well thought out variety provides interest and makes the quilt more sophisticated. Quilting stitches don't have to be those tiny ones, but what is there should be even and the lines smooth if they are intended to be straight lines. The binding color is important too. A bad color in the binding can ruin an otherwise good design. We will look at the back of the quilt too for some of the things we look at on the front--quality of stitching, no puffiness, smooth starts and stops, no threads hanging off the back.

A design can be traditional but still be innovative or even original and those types of quilts, assuming they are done well in other ways, often get good points during the judging. There are lots of things to think about when you are about to make a traditional quilt, but if you are making something out of a popular magazine or new book, chances are that you are going to see more than one of the same design, maybe in different colors and/or prints, but it is definitely going to hurt your chances. If you want to make a traditional quilt and are serious about wanting to have a chance, you might consider doing some research and come up with a quilt that has not been commonly seen. Antique quilts are a good resource to study.

When we judge your quilts, we all try to be as truly fair as we can. But judging is mentally tiring and tedious work. We often have to finish judging all the quilts in one day, and even if there are multiple judges, it is still a huge job. We only have so much time to spend with each quilt, so that quilt needs to grab us in some way. We do not get to see the names of the makers so that there is no conflict of interest. If we recognize the maker of a quilt by the style, etc., we are responsible to disqualify ourselves from voting for that quilt.

During the day, we are mentally picking out ones that meet all the criteria we are judging against. Many, if not most of the shows have criteria that is scored--workmanship and visual impact, for example. Generally there are not too many criteria, so if you perhaps have a great design, but do poorly in workmanship, it really counts against you. As we are working our way through the quilts, the scribes are registering our scores for each category. As the day nears the end, we are ready to select our 1st, 2nd, 3rd and honorable mentions (again, I am making this simple for purposes of this article; in reality, there are often many more categories of awards). The scribes help by pulling out the high scores. Then we go back and look at all the ones we have selected by the scores, and if any are very close together, we may have to get a little more picky (this one didn't sew down the mitered corners, etc.). That may be a little more than we need to look at, but it gives you an idea that we do look at detail. During this time, some quilts move up in score, and some end up getting moved down.

Finally we have selected the top three categories and the honorable mentions. In reality, each judge generally picks a first and we hold that first in the back of our mind. When we are doing the final judging, we will pick from the 1st by going back over the strong points of each, and pick a best of show. Sometimes we have only one 1st to select from and then what happens is that the 2nd, 3rd, etc. move up.

Even if you have never entered a judged show before, don't be afraid to enter. Judges generally provide constructive critiques and note the good points of your work to help you for the future. Also, in reality, every entrant has the same opportunity as the next person. None of the judging is personal, and if your quilt is not one of the ones selected, it doesn't mean that it is not good. When you see the winners, you can look carefully at some of the criteria above so that you know what to aim for next time. And a good thing about having your work hanging in the show is that sometimes you can stand around where your work is hanging and listen to the comments of viewers; you can also view your quilt from a very different perspective.