AMBURY SHIELD INTERCLUB COMPETITION 

While the majority of those exhibiting in the Ambury Shield Competition will be experienced members, this competition is a very good opportunity for societies to encourage and support inexperienced exhibitors to enter as 'part of the  team'.

RULES AND GUIDELINES

In interpreting these rules a Club shall be deemed a Society.    

1. To be eligible to win the Ambury Shield Competition a society shall enter AT LEAST five exhibits in a minimum of four classes. If a society has more than five exhibits, the top five only (in a minimum of four classes) will be counted towards the Shield.
2. Societies may enter the Ambury Shield Interclub Competition with less than five exhibits, under the following conditions:
   (1) The society shall not be eligible to win the Ambury Shield itself.
   (2) The exhibits shall be judged alongside all others and individual exhibits shall be eligible to win the 'Novice Trophy', 'Best in Show Award' and a place in any class.
3. (1) A society shall not submit more than two exhibits prepared by any one of its members
   (2) Two society exhibits may be entered in the same class, provided they do not belong to the same person.
4. An exhibit may be submitted only once in the Ambury Shield Competition unless substantially altered.
5. All exhibits must be owned, written up and mounted by the entrant.
6. Competition pages shall not exceed 300mm in height or 260mm in width, inclusive of Protective coverings which are compulsory
7. All entrants shall write the 'Name of their SOCIETY', 'Class' and 'Page Number' on the back of each page of every exhibit.
8. Host Societies are eligible to compete, but Judges may not enter the Ambury Shield Competition when they are judging it.
9. Judging shall be the responsibility of the Host Society which shall appoint a minimum of two judges. At least one of these should be on the NZPF National Register of Judges.it is  recommended that at least one member of the judging panel be from another  society.
10. Judging shall be carried out using the three Judging Sheets supplied by the Waikato Philatelic Society. (These include separate judging sheets supplied for Thematic and Social Philately classes.)
11. Clubs and Judges please note:
    (1) Only one evaluation sheet should be returned for each entry.
    (2) Since the Ambury Shield Competition is often the first competition inexperienced exhibitors enter, it is particularly important that judges offer helpful     comments.                                                                               
    Entries in all classes require a short introductory sentence or paragraph.
12. (1) Exhibits which are incorrectly classified may be moved by the judges to the appropriate class if the society’s results would be improved. (2) Should a society have five exhibits in less than four classes, rather than disqualify one of them, judges shall deduct thirty (30) marks from the total marks of that society.
13. (1) To decide the 'Best in Show' Award, first place exhibits in all classes shall be judged    against each other.
    (2) To decide the 'Novice Trophy' winner, the best Novice exhibits in each class shall be judged against each other.
    Neither of these awards should be given automatically to the exhibit with the highest marks
    A NOVICE is defined as a person who has not won an award or prize at  Inter-club or higher level in an adult competition.
14. All competing societies shall receive a copy of the judges' total scores (i.e. the sum of the scores of the five exhibits) for all societies eligible to win the Shield. Where a society has less than five exhibits the marks will be recorded for each class, but no total shall be shown. Judging sheets shall be returned to the competing societies with their respective exhibits.
15. The Waikato Philatelic Society shall take all precautions possible for the security, safety and care of exhibits but cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage to them.