Category: From the President

Dec 27 2012

New Judges Application Process

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New Judges Application Process

To: All GBA members
From: Harry Faircloth, GBA President.

On behalf of the Georgia Barbecue Association, I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and will have a happy & prosperous New Year.

The GBA has experienced tremendous growth over the past couple of years. We have held contests in many new venues and have trained many new judges. With growth comes the necessity to develop better, more efficient procedures. Beginning with Pigs & Wings in February, we are implementing a new application process for judges.

Our goal is to provide a judge application process that is consistent from contest to contest. The process will also give us a tool to fairly manage the number of judges at each contest with the goal of each judge being seated for at least two of the three GBA categories.

From this point forward Contest organizers will no longer mail applications out.  Judges may apply to be confirmed to Judge only by completing the application on the GBA Website.  Only Judge Applications submitted using the electronic process at the GBA Website will be accepted.  Links to the forms will be on the contest page of the GBA website.

Please remember, submitting an electronic application through the GBA Website does not guarantee you will be selected to judge at the contest.

All submissions will be given to the Lead Contest Representative who will work with the Contest Organizer to manage the Judge Selection process. Consideration will be given to those who sign up early, but that is not the only criteria used in selecting judges.

Approximately two weeks prior to the contest date, the lead GBA Representative will send out confirmation notices by email to the judges who have been selected.  It is your responsibility to be sure you enter your correct email address on the form.  Should an email bounce, the Rep will make one attempt to reach the judge by phone before selecting a replacement. Additional confirmations may be sent closer to the contest date should more teams sign up.

If you are confirmed to judge at a contest and cannot fulfill the commitment, it is imperative you contact the Lead Contest Representative by 8:00 AM on the morning of the contest.  Failing to appear at a contest you have been confirmed to judge without giving notice will decrease your chances of being selected in the future.  Should it happen a second time, you may be removed from consideration for the remainder of the contest year.

You are welcome to come to the contest even if do not receive a confirmation to judge.  If you do come with out a judging confirmation, please assume that you will not be needed to judge.  You may choose to place your name on a standby list the morning of the contest.  If we have reason to need replacement judges the Lead Contest Representative may use the standby list to seat a Judge who wasn’t invited. You may also volunteer to assist with turn-ins, table setup, etc.

The judge application form for Pigs & Wings will be posted on the GBA website on Thursday, December 27.   Forms for other contests will be posted in early January.

If you have any questions regarding the new procedure or have problems submitting the form, please contact Jim Sewell at jwsewell@mchsi.com.

Jul 09 2012

Message from President Harry Faircloth

A message from President Harry Faircloth

Greetings

We are just winding up our 2011-2012 cook year, what a trip. We cooked in places we’ve never cooked before.  We had new cook teams that had never cooked with us before.  We had new judges that had never judged with us or anywhere else before.  Our Team-of-the-Year has come down to the wire and the winner will be announced in Ft Valley Georgiaon September 8th at ComSouth HamboneJam.

 

It has been my pleasure to serve as your President for this past year.  On behalf of Jimmy Nelms, your Vice-President and Pam Nelms your Secretary/Treasurer and myself Thank-You for all of your support along the way.  It has been quite a ride.

 

Our membership has steadily grown with new cook teams and new judges joining us. We have added new events and seen some of our older venues reach new highs in the number of teams cooking.  I do believe we are having some of the most unique trophies we have ever seen and I think Blackshear, Georgia gets credit for this.

 

We have started our nominating and voting process for your officers for the 2012-2013 cook year.  Nominations will continue thru the end of July with voting during the month of August.

 

We are preparing for a better year next year and each of you can participate in this new year’s experience.  Cook teams DO NOT forget you get DOUBLE points for cooking the ComSouth Hambone Jam so no cooker wants to miss this event.

 

I am looking forward to this next year just to see the new heights we climb to and each of you can join the ride so “ALL-ABOARD”  the train is at the station!

Feb 27 2012

From President Harry Faircloth

From President Harry Faircloth

Congratulations to Bethel Smokers on the GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP and to Reserve Champs Smokin’ 42 BBQ at  THE PIGS and WINGS in Perry Gerorgia

To all of you that participated in this past week-ends “Pigs and Wings” contest in Perry Georgia,  Thank you for making Audrey’s event such a success.  Last count we had 58 cook teams from Georgia, Florida, Alabama and I understand South Carolina.  WOW!

The weather tried not to cooperate but you BBQ”ers didn’t let it stand in your way.  I saw a lot of cooperation between cook teams helping out with tarps, helping with ideas and suggestions to some of the newer cook teams.  All of you owe yourself a hand.

We had some newly trained judges that did a super job,  It looks like Pam & Jimmy Nelms and Mr Kay Saville did a good job at the last training class.

If any of you that participated as a judge or cook team have comments or suggestions that would help the GBA do a better job or if you have any comments about the event that would help “Pigs and Wings” do a better job please e-mail me at hlfcloth@bellsouth.net.

I do believe that Audrey and Danny have thrown down the gaunlet to everyone that “Pigs and Wings” are not to be taken lightly.  Thanks to everyone that helped out and to all of the sponsors I believe you got your money’s worth.

Harry Faircloth

Dec 12 2011

Holy Smokes Invited to MBN Invitational

Harry Faircloth, President of the Georgia Barbecue Assoication (GBA), announces that Henry Evans, President of the  Memphis Barbecue Network (MBN), has issued an invitation for the GBA Team of the Year to compete in the MBN Invitational at Harrah’s Casino at Robinsonville, MS on March 8-10. 2012. The invitation only event has an overall purse of $18,500. The GBA is proud to have the 2010-2011 Team of the Year, Gary & Dionn Lanton of Holy Smokes represent our organization at this prestigious event.

Holy Smokes 2010-2011 GBA Team of the Year