Last year, we had an overwhelming response from volunteers to judge at the 2014 AMPS International Convention. Over 90 modelers offered their time to help judge. Again this year, I am looking for volunteers to participate as judges at the 2015 AMPS International Convention 30 April-2 May 2015, at the National Military History Center's WWII Victory Museum, Auburn, IN. I’ve already had some folks volunteer to judge, which is great. This year in addition to field judges, we are putting on a push to get volunteers to judge Dioramas/Vignettes, Figures and be runners. Please let me know if you’d like to participant in these judging efforts.

It's no secret the AMPS judging system needs a large numbers of judges to evaluate the entries as the show is occurring. So, if you are visiting the convention for the first time or the twenty first, I personally invite you to “donate” some of your time to be a judge. Your experiences at judging models ranging from beginner to advanced skill level will make you a better modeler. You will also leave the convention with a highly coveted AMPS Crew T-shirt, suitable for creating jealousy among your modeling buddies.

In order to participate as a volunteer judge, all you need to do is attend a judge’s training session conducted in the Seminar room (North Theater) at the Victory Museum on Friday, 1 May at 8:00 AM. The purpose of this training is to help judges become familiar with the AMPS judging process, and sign up for judging shifts. We will be serving donuts and coffee at this meet. For those not able to attend the Friday judges meeting, let me know via e-mail and we can work out different arrangements.

The AMPS judging system is a process which provides each modeler with a score as well as feedback from the four judges who evaluate the model. We try to ensure the comments are pertinent and valid in order to help modelers get better at their hobby.

This is a quick reminder that the 2015 International Convention pre-registration ends on 19 April 2015. Pre-registration allows you to enter your models on Thursday night, 30 April 2015. Pre-registration is going well with approximately 2-weeks to go before it closes. As a result, our first two-hour judging shift will start at 6:00 PM Thursday evening to support pre-registration. I’ll need at least 24 volunteer judges for this shift so please let me know if you can help us on 30 April 2015. To pre-register, check out registration link on the AMPS web-site today!

Please contact me at: [email protected] or through the AMPS web-site at: http://www.amps-armor.org/ampssite/sendMail.aspx?Who=22 if you have any questions about judging.

Mike Petty
AMPS
Chief Judge
2nd VP, South Region