What is going on?
A cat show is composed of a number of separate individual judgings held in the separate rings throughout the show hall. Each ring is presided over by a different judge, who first judges all the cats within a breed. After judging all the breeds, they present his or her own Best in Show awards independently of the decisions of other judges. So a cat that is chosen “Best” by the judge in Ring 1, may not always be given the same award by the judge in Ring 2 . We have 6-8 pedigreed cat judges over a one or two day event. They judge 3 competitive categories for pedigree cats: Kitten (4-8 months), Championship (breeding adults), and Premiership (alters) and optionally Household Pet rings. Because of this, there are many Best in Show finals which occur throughout the event, so there is plenty of activity.
Household Pets are judged on condition, uniqueness, temperament, and grooming. They get a red and white ribbon if they are in good condition. The judge then selects a top ten Best of Show for HHP.
Pedigreed cats have a written standard for each breed. Each standard describes the ideal cat for that breed. It includes both a written description and apportions 100 points to various parts of the cat based on its importance for that breed. For example, the Scottish Fold standard with its signature folded ears, allocates 25 points to ears. Each cat is judged against their standard not the other cats in the ring. They are judged first within their breed/division, followed by the Best in Show finals.
Divisions
A few breeds are broken down into smaller units called divisions. Each division is treated as an independent breed in the breed/division stage of judging. For example, Persians have five divisions divided by color, so up to 5 Persians can be awarded Best of Breed/Division.
Categories
Pedigreed cats compete in 3 competitive categories.
- Kittens: 4-8 months of age.
- Championship: 8 months an older that are still intact (breeding cats)
- Premiership: 8 months and older that are spayed or neutered (non-breeding cats)
Title levels
Championship and Premiership have three titles Open, Champion or Premier, and Grand Champion or Grand Premier. But judging has just two levels.
- Group One include both Opens and Champion or Premier
- Group Two include the Grands.
Kittens have only one Group.
Best in Show finals
After judging all the cats by breed/division, the judge will select the best ten of all the breeds plus additional rosettes for Champions or Premiers only. Each judge will have three Best in Show finals over the two days, one for each category: Kitten, Championship, and Premiership plus optionally HHPs.
Why does each cat get so many ribbons? Why do so many cats get blue ribbons?
In Breed/Division judging, the cats are judged in a tier approach with 3 levels of judging per breed/division. At least the Best of the Breed will get at least 3 ribbons - one for each tier. Additionally an optional additoional ribbons can be awarded for Grand points.
Basic 3 tiers of judging and color of ribbons awarded
| Tier Level | Ribbon Color | Description of Award |
|---|---|---|
| Color Class Subunit (Lowest Level) | Blue Best
Red 2nd Best Yellow 3rd Best |
Awarded to the top three cats of the same Color Class Subunit. A Color Class Subunit is a very small unit where each color class is broken down into smaller subunits based on both Group and sex. So each color class can have four separate subunits: Group One (Opens, Premiers/Champions) males, Group One females, Group Two (Grand Premier/Grand Champion) males, Group Two females. Ex: all Ruddy Abyssinian Champion or Open males. Another class would be all Ruddy Abyssinian Grand females. |
| Color Class (Middle level) | Black Best
White 2nd Best |
All the cats of the breed/division in the same Color Class compete together. This combines the four possible Color Class Subunit from the previous tier. For example all Ruddy Abyssinians compete together. A cat that gets a black must have won a blue in the previous tier. |
| Breed/ Division (Highest Level) | Brown Best
Orange 2nd Best |
All the cats of the breed compete for the top two awards. It combines all the color classes together. For example all Abyssinians. A cat with the brown must have won a black and blue from the previous tiers. |
Optional ribbons
In Championship and Premiership, these ribbons advance cats to the next title level towards Grand. Grands do not compete for them having already achieved that title level.
| Title Level | Ribbon Color | Description of Award |
|---|---|---|
| Champion/Premier | Purple | One awarded to the best Open or Champion/Premier in the whole breed/division. |
Example
Optional ribbons |
Purple | ||||||
| Highest Tier | Orange | Brown | |||||
| Middle Tier | Black | White | White | Black | |||
| Lowest Tier | Blue | Yellow | Red | Blue | Blue | Red | Blue |
| Color, Sex, Title | Color 1 Male Champion | Color 1 Male Open | Color 1 Male Champion | Color 1 Female Open | Color 2 Female Open | Color 2 Female Grand | Color 2 Female Grand |
Now What?
After all the breeds have been judged individually, the judge will next determine their Best in Show finals. They will pick 10 (or in large shows 15) of their top cats as well as several ribbons only awarded to Champions or Premiers but not Opens or Grands. There can be 2 of one breed selected or none of another. The cats are not competition against each other but again are competing against their ideal standard of 100 points. The judge will repeat this process for all 3 categories of Kittens, Championship, and Premiership as well as Household Pets.
How does a cat advance in terms of title levels?
Opens need be judged in 6 rings without being disqualified. It need not beat another cat. So why have them? The purpose is to make sure they meet the standard with no defects that prohibit them from competing. A judge will take even more care in examining Opens to assure they are acceptable quality.
Champions need 200 grand points and Premiers need 75 grand points to advance to the title of Grand Champions or Grand Premier. They can get these points in two ways. The first is the Purple ribbon in breed judging. They get a point for all the other Champions (not Opens or Grands) they beat. The second way is in a Best in Show final. In addition to the top ten (or fifteen) rosettes, the judge awards some additional final rosettes to Champions/Premiers only. They get points for all the Champions/Premiers they beat. In the above example the Color 1 Male Champion received 4 points for his Purple ribbon. If he made a final he would not get those 4 points but a larger number based on the actual placement (1st, 2nd) and the number of Champions of all the breeds competing.