Competition & Credit Judging Rules

All entries must be pre-registered no later than specified prior to the conference.

This does not mean your specimen must be completed at this time you still have the time until the day of the conference.

All specimens are accepted at the discretion of the registrar.

Registration is available to fully paid- up members of the Guild of Taxidermists, any other entry is at the discretion of the committee. Registration must be completed online using the official Guild Registration form, if you do not have internet access please contact the Registrar or have a friend complete this task for you. Refer to the website for details.

The Registration Form Must be Completed in Full.

All work that is entered must be created solely by the named entrant, without any assistance or supervision,unless you are entering the new “Supervised Work” category.

A specimen prepared and/or constructed by yourself only, but under supervision is not considered to be solely your own work and work produced this way is generally of a higher standard that could be achieved working on your own. Such work cannot be entered for credit judging or other competitions. The Registration sheet has spaces for writing the relevant information pertaining to your specimen and yes/no tick boxes.

The Registration sheet has spaces for writing the relevant information pertaining to your specimen and yes/no tick boxes.

The sheet must be completed in full, if an element is not applicable to your specimen write ‘N/A’ (not applicable) don’t just leave it blank.

Indicate the category you are entering specimen/s in, Credit, Higher Credit, Display Only, Professional Amateur or Novice.

Once a member has achieved specialist status in any category, further entries of work in that category can only be entered for Higher Credit assessment.

Indicate in which classification you are entering your specimen, Birds, Mammals, Fish/ Reptile, Game Head, Osteology, Other.

Entrants must confirm on the registration sheet that they have read and accept the competition rules by ticking the appropriate box. Without this entries will not be accepted. Indicate where appropriate, whether a commercial manikin is used, with or without alteration, or whether the manikin is all your own work.

Indicate where, if any artificial elements are used (except eyes) such as: bill or wattles, or freeze drying has been performed in any part of your process.

For the Higher Credits all artificial elements must be reproduced by the named entrant. Indicate at what stage your work commenced on the specimen, from a fresh or frozen complete animal, or from a frozen, dried, tanned or salted skin. From a study skin or it is a completely remounted specimen.

Indicate whether or not your specimens have been submitted on a previous occasion, re-submitted specimens must have been altered to be entered and accompanied with documented evidence.

Entries will be identified as Created by; a Professional, Amateur or Novice taxidermist, a professional is a person having a credit in any one of the disciplines, e.g. birds, but will remain as amateur in mammals, fish, heads etc if they have no credits in these disciplines.

Amateur is classified as anyone who has practiced taxidermy for more than 5 years but has no credits in the discipline in which they have entered a specimen, i.e. bird, mammal, fish, heads etc.

Novice is classified as anyone who has practiced taxidermy for less than 5 years and who has no credits in discipline in which they have entered a specimen, i.e. bird, mammal, fish, heads etc.

If an Amateur or Novice holds/gains a credit in a discipline, they will be entered as a Professional for entries in that discipline at all further conferences and seminars. Anyone, at their discretion, can compete in a higher class than the rules dictate, e.g. someone with no credits can decide to compete in the professional class.

If you think you have a large number of specimens that may occupy a large space you must confirm the practicalities of this with the registrar prior to registering your work.

By entering, all entrants agree their work is entered entirely at the entrants own risk and indemnify the Guild of Taxidermists against any risk whatsoever from their work. The work must not present any hazard from its construction or materials used.

Where required, entrants must be in possession of an article 10 (or CITES documents) for any Annex A specimens entered and accept all liabilities concerning current legislation. Your A10 number will be required for registration, unless the specimen is a commission.

Specimens must be presented at the conference centre on the Friday by 21.00hrs. Or Saturday morning by 09.00am for day delegates.

Judging can commence on the arrival of the first specimens.

On arrival specimens must be placed with the registrar, where they will receive their registration numbers, be photographed and then taken through to the exhibition rooms. Please follow all directions to ensure a smooth flow of this process. Judging starts on the Friday with the arrival of specimens. The specimen room will open for viewing at an appointed time on the Friday evening.

You are encouraged to bring any other taxidermy or related work, re-creations, crustacean, woodcarving, sculpture, etc for exhibition at the Conference to share with other members.

A registration sheet is still required to identify the work.

Your work will be photographed; the images may be published by the Guild or photographer, who retain copyright of the images they take.

When working toward building your knowledge of the generic appearance of a species or toward Credit or Higher Credit awards, it is normal practice to gather together a portfolio to assist with the creation of your work, this is a normal and essential part of the creative process, particularly when working towards gathering knowledge of the generic appearance of individual species.

In its most basic form, the portfolio would contain the reference used when mounting your specimen, measurement sheets or copies and images of the body form you used or sculpted.

When having your work judged for a Higher Credits, it is compulsory to provide a portfolio of reference for each of your entries. This should contain sufficient material for the Judges to determine the accuracy of your mount particularly if your specimen has an unusual characteristic that is illustrated in the mount. You also need to show the manikin used for the mount was of your own making. Refer to the Portfolio document for more details.

If you are entering work for judging for Standard Credits, members are encouraged to present a portfolio for each specimen submitted, with at least the reference images used and of the manikin for each specimen.

Only one of the three higher credit specimens required in each category to become a Master may be on a commercial or altered commercial form.

You may also wish to include details that illustrate the variety and/or amount of work you may have gone to in creating your groundwork or casework, or anything that informs the Judges or members of your skills and how you have used those skills.

The quality of your portfolio can be a key element in improving and maintaining the quality of your taxidermy. The content of your portfolio over the basic content described is your decision.

Members are encouraged to take advantage of the one-to-one critique on offer from the Judges during the conference.

The sculptural representation of animal/s with the object of creating the illusion of life of the species concerned, utilising preserved parts of the original animal and or elements reproduced in part or in full.

The crucial element is the work must represent a moment or narrative of the animal’s appearance, behaviours or function.

For the purposes of assessment anthropomorphic specimens will not be judged.