So you're interested in hosting a MECAA qualifier show? Awesome! Please read the information below so you know what to expect. You can contact MECAA's Board through the Contact link above if you have a question or a concern that is not addressed here..

What does it cost to host a MECAA qualifier?
How do I apply to make my show a MECAA qualifier?
How the MECAA format is different for you, the showholder.
What to expect of your judges, and what your judges should expect.
Dealing with entrant confusion.
Introducing the scorecard system.
What are Arenas?
What are Divisions?
How class placings are determined at MECAA shows.
How your entrants qualify for the MECAA National Show.
How to develop an effective class list.
Advice for hosting a successful MECAA qualifier.



What does it cost to host a MECAA qualifier? The fee for your scorecards is $30.00 per Arena. This means, if you offer two Arenas at your show your fee will be $60.00. The fee covers the cost of printing and shipping your scorecards, and covers the cost of enough scorecards for Novice, Amateur, and Open Divisions. For more information on Arenas, see the section of this page called "What are Arenas?"

There will be other costs associated with hosting a show, of course, such as awards, hall rental, and paying your judges. Your only cost to MECAA is $30.00 per Arena.

How do I apply to make my show a MECAA qualifier? Click here to see the application page. The application page is also linked in the Contact and Events sections of this web site.

Submit an application via email to the address indicated on the application. Answer all the questions on the application page fully. Once your application has been received, you will be told how to send payment for your scorecards, and how much to send.

If you will be paying by check or money order, we recommend that you start the application process no later than 60 days before your show date to allow for postal times. If you will be paying by PayPal, we recommend that you start the application process no later than 30 days before your show date.

How the MECAA format is different for you, the showholder. The MECAA format requires that judges look carefully at each entry in each class, and provide each with a scorecard that gives a percentage score based on the entry's relative quality in five different criteria. As you can imagine, this means that judging will take more time per class at a MECAA show than at most model horse hobby shows, such as NAMHSA qualifiers. However, since we have incorporated aspects of Breed/Halter and Workmanship into a single scorecard less classes will need to be offered. Exhibitors will still be provided with an enjoyable competitive experience.

MECAA qualifying shows are intended to be a new and fulfilling way for entrants to compete at their own level. This means that they must be allowed to enter individual pieces from their collection into the Division that best fits the piece. At typical model horse shows, the entrant is constrained to a single division based on his or her showing experience. At MECAA shows, emphasis is placed on the creation and history of individual miniatures, and exhibitors enter their pieces wherever they best fit into the competition.

Although this would seem to mean more paperwork for you, we have created the MECAA system with ease of use for the showholder in mind.

Simply allow your Amateur entrants to decide which Division they would like to enter their miniatures in on the day of the show (Amateur or Open). We will try out the "honor system" and trust entrants to be truthful in their actions for the first year or so of MECAA qualifiers. It is hoped that this new system of showing will provide entrants with enough satisfaction that they will not feel the desire to cheat and enter in "illegal" Divisions. If cheating becomes a problem, we will alter our system accordingly in the future. But for now, manage the paperwork for your MECAA qualifier, including entry forms, model lists, and results methods, in exactly the same way you would manage them at a regular model horse show.

What to expect of your judges, and what your judges should expect. With the scorecard system, your judges should expect to spend several minutes longer per class than at regular model horse shows. Each miniature should be carefully evaluated on the five criteria indicated on the scorecard with a numeric score of 1 - 10. 1 is very low and 10 very high. Fractional scores are allowed in quarter-points only (i.e., 8.25, 7.5, 5.75, etc.) For examples of the scorecards, you can check the links below. These are preliminary designs to give you a basic idea of how the final scorecards will look.

Judges are NOT required to leave comments on every or any entry. The comment space is only provided as a convenience in case a judge wishes to comment on a specific aspect of an entry.

Because the judging process is lengthy, please try to provide judges with a rolling chair or a lightweight chair that can easily be moved around the judging table. This will save your judges a lot of physical strain and will keep their minds sharp so they can do the best possible job of judging!

Judges will have considerable freedom to give their true opinions of the entries, compared with current standard model horse judging methods. Your judges are not merely placing a class from First to Sixth - they are providing the owner/artist with an in-depth evaluation of their miniature. Judges should provide honest scores based on how they truly feel about a piece. Judges have no obligation to give out a Nationals-qulalifying score of 90% or more to any entry. It is possible for a first- or second-place entry to score below 90%, and therefore to not receive qualification to the National Show.

Judges should take their Division into some account while evaluating the entries. For example, entries in the Novice Division should not be held to the same standards of absolute excellence as entries in the Open Division. But neither should entries in the Novice division be coddled. Part of MECAA's mission is to help artists improve their work and advance up to Open-level competition. Judges should take this into account as well.

As a showholder, you should put some thought into selecting your judges. Because a MECAA show involves more than simply doling out ribbons, your judges should be people whose opinions are well respected in the world of equine miniatures. They should have good reputations for fairness and honesty. They should be knowledgeable about equines and about miniature art.



Dealing with Entrant Confusion. It will take some time before this new method of showing becomes "old news" and entrants have adapted to the scorecards as well as the Arena/Division format. You can help avoid confusion by offering a basic info sheet to all your entrants at your show. This will serve as a guideline for entering their individual pieces and will answer basic questions they may have about scorecards, placings, and qualifications. We will provide you with the info sheet file when you receive your scorecards. You can make photocopies of the info sheet and make them available for your entrants.

Before the show, you will probably have many entrants asking you questions about where and how to enter. Please refer them to the MECAA web site. They can read the page titled "For Exhibitors" and contact MECAA if they are still unclear on what to do.

We are sure that with time confusion over the new system will disappear, but you should be prepared for confusion at the first MECAA show you host. A great way to keep things simple - for you and for your entrants - is to restrict the number of Arenas at your show. You can check out the section of this page titled "Tips for hosting a successful MECAA qualifier" for more information on this tactic.

Introducing the scorecard system. The scorecard system of judging is a new innovation in the world of equine miniatures. We think that this new system will be eagerly received by your show entrants! Scorecards provide some feedback to the exhibitor, while striking a balance between objectivity and subjectivity (standards and opinion) that is appealing to judges. This also provides a valuable means of evaluating a judge's skills - an exhibitor may disagree strongly with a judge's placings and will be able to better evaluate whether she will choose to show under this judge again based on what she sees on her scorecards.

You will need to be sure that your entrants are aware that they will be placed based on scorecards and not in the standars model horse show fashion. We suggest that you mention the scorecard system on your show's web site, and provide a link to the MECAA web site's "For Exhibitors" page, where entrants can learn more about the criteria they will encounter on the MECAA scorecards.

What are Arenas? "Arena" is the term we use at MECAA to distinguish one group of competition from another. There are six Arenas recognized by MECAA: Artist Resin, Customized, Scene, Tack & Accessories, Custom China, and Decor. For specific definitions of each Arena, you can see the FAQ page.

Within each Arena, entrants compete in three Divisions - Novice, Amateur, or Open - based on their experience and their history with each individual entry they are showing.

We recommend that you restrict your MECAA qualifier to one or two Arenas that interest you and your exhibitors - for example, just Artist Resin and Customized, or just China and Decor. Because the MECAA judging system takes longer than most other model horse hobby shows' judging systems, offering more than a few Arenas could cause your show to drag on late into the night.

As the host of a MECAA qualifier, you are not required to offer all Arenas at a given show.

What are Divisions? At a MECAA show, entrants may show in one of three Divisions. The Divisions are Novice, Amateur, and Open.

Divisions compete within Arenas - so, for example, your show may offer only the Artist Resin Arena, but you must offer classes for Artist Resin Novice, Artist Resin Amateur, and Artist Resin Open in order to be compliant with MECAA rules.

Exhibitors enter individual pieces of their collection into each Arena, Division, and Class based on their experience and their history with the piece. Novice Division is for artists who have been producing equine miniature art for less than two years. Amateur is for artists who have been producing equine miniature art for two years or more, AND produce their art on a non-professional basis - that is, they do not support themselves with their art. Open is for artists who have been producing for two years or more, AND who do so on a professional basis. Open is ALSO where any entrant must show a miniature that was purchased painted or commissioned...even if that exhibitor would normally show in Novice or Amateur.

Further, Amateur exhibitors may choose to show individual pieces that they have created in Open competition at any time, so long as these pieces do not show in both Amateur and Open at the same show.

How class placings are determined at MECAA shows. Once your judge has filled out all the scorecards for the entrants in a class, she records the top scores and the entry numbers of the horses who won the top scores on your show record sheet (just as a judge would record her first through sixth placings, and the entry numbers of the horses that received these placings, at a model horse hobby show). The only difference is that awards must be given out according to the numeric scores - so the horse with the highest score must be given First Place, the horse with the second-highest score must be given second place, etc.

In the event of a tie in scores, the judge may use her own criteria to determine placings.

You, the showholder, keep the record sheet so that you can do results later. The scorecards for each entry are left with the entry and are picked up by the exhibitors after the class has been placed.

How your entrants qualify for the MECAA National Show Your entrants only qualify for the MECAA National Show if they receive a 90% or higher score on their scorecard. Judges are not required to give out any 90% or higher scores if they do not feel that any miniatures are worthy of such a high score. MECAA does not require that your show offer Arena Champion and Reserve awards, but most exhibitors enjoy them so we encourage you to offer them. If you do, all First- and Second-Place winners in each Class may compete for these awards, but First- and Second-Place Class winners do not automatically qualify for the Nationals. Only a score of 90% or better will qualify a miniature for the National Show.

How to develop an effective class list. Creating a useful classlist that is enjoyable for your entrants is one of the most difficult aspects of hosting a show. MECAA does not have any "core classlist" requirements. You must use your own best judgment when making your classes. All that MECAA requires is that you offer a classlist for each of the three Divisions in every Arena that you include in your show. For example, if you are offering Artist Resin Arena competition at your show, you must offer Artist Resin Novice, Artist Resin Amateur, and Artist Resin Open classlists. The classlists for each Division do not have to match each other exactly, but you must offer one classlist for each Division.

We suggest that you spend a little time thinking about your Arena before you finalize any classlist. Consider what type of miniatures are popular and common in that Arena. You can see MECAA's suggested example classlists for each Arena here. These are only suggestions - we do not have a formalized class list for any Arena:

You are not required to use these classlists, but they should help you in figuring out your own. You are welcome to use them if you would like to.



Tips for hosting a successful MECAA show. Offer only one or two Arenas of competition per day of your show. This will keep things simple and relaxed for you, your judges, and your exhibitors. You may want to offer a couple of Arenas that are related, such as Scene and Tack & Accessories, or Artist Resin and China.

Pick one judge per Division, per Arena. Don't expect one Arena judge to have the energy to cover all three Divisions in her Arena.

Talk it up in advance! Let your local showers know that you are hosting a MECAA show and dirct them to this web site so that they can learn about how MECAA offers them a different, more exciting showing experience.

Plan PLENTY of time into your day. The MECAA judging process takes longer than average model horse hobby shows. Keep this in mind, and allow yourself plenty of time to set up, tear down, and judge.

Provide your exhibitors with information about MECAA on the day of the show. We will send your an info sheet with your scorecards. We encourage you to photocopy this sheet and give it to every entrant, so that they can have an easy reference whenever they have questions on the day of the show.

Contact us with any questions or concerns you have - we will do our best to help you.

Sitemap:

| Home | What Is MECAA? | FAQ | Events | For Exhibitors | For Showholders | Talk | Convention | Fundraising | Contact |