Karaoke Forums

Groovy.

_________________
DJ Don

I can see both sides of this argument for sure.... HOWEVER,

This is a "contest" where the winner is going for $1,500.00 CASH MONEY....

As soon as "compete for money" is included, all the "fun" goes right out the window in my book and it becomes a bloody, knock-down-drag-out competition... not a "fun karaoke contest."

So in the interest of fairness, I'd have to agree that "audience reaction" needs to be tossed out completely. They are not the judges and should have no effect on the actual judging based on other (measurable) merits. Just because the audience goes nuts on American Idol doesn't mean the singer can't get taken down a notch by the judges based on other categories - such as what they are really capable of and didn't show.

Years ago, when I did do a contest (under duress), the categories were:
#1. Vocal ability
#2. Stage Presence
#3. Overall Performance

And yes, you could argue that all of these are "subjective" and not "measurable" but that's the whole point of having judges - there has to be a line somewhere and like it or not, someone has to draw that line.

While I admit there is no fool-proof judging system for a contest/competition of this type, I think the criteria we employ is perhaps as good as any.

Our biggest difficulty is, and will probably continue to be, finding competent judges.

Having said that, there are always dozens of judges in the crowd who could do a much better job... just as there are an abundance of better umpires at most baseball games.

Of course I also run into other experts every year... Those who insist we should limit contestants to non-professionals (Now, there's a can of worms)... Those who maintain it should be a country-music-only contest... Those who believe any prize money should stay within our municipality... and on and on... Some things are constructive... some not.

It's when I hear (though not to my face) "So-and-so didn't win, so the competition must be "fixed", that I sometimes feel like giving up. But with time comes a thicker skin. Now, depending on who the comments come from, I invite them to take over my job, or simply ignore them.

The fact remains, our contest is getting bigger and I think better every year.. so, "if it ain't broke..."

Thanks for the input gang..


Cheers

Earl

_________________
Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

God luck Earl, but our baseball/softball games are pretty tame considered to Canada. No one fights or complains about officiating.

_________________
KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Contests can be fun, but also serious competition - but that's human nature & for those that do not want to compete in a contest because it's not fun to you, then don't. There are plenty of people that do love doing contests to make it worthwhile.
Whenever I ran big money/prize contests I always had preliminaries - in which the top 1 or 2 people (set at the beginning of the contest, not a random pick week to week) would move on to the finals. Usually had the same 3 judges if at all possible for each qualifying week. These judges were not associated with the bar nor knew anybody competing. They did have to have at least SOME kind of music experience - not that that will necessarily help with their own mind, but it looks better to have someone with music background of some sort judging than Joe Construction worker.
For the finals we anywhere from 4-6 judges & 2 alternates for tie breakers (these were random picked but rarely needed). The main judges again had to have music experience in which we used musicians (karaoke friendly) from local bands, vocal instructors, radio personalities, etc. NEVER use audience response for a judging criteria. We used Vocal, Stage performance/appearance (sometimes these would be broken into to catagories) & song difficulty.
We competed in a couple of statewide contests in which the winner received $1000 & did a 5 song opening act for Diamond Rio at the state fair, our contestant won.
Did another statewide where the main prize was $2000, our contestant took 2nd ($1000).

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Our contest runs for 8 Friday evenings, the first five being preliminaries, followed by two semi-finals, and then of course the final.

We limit preliminary entries to 20 per night on a first-come-first-served basis, from which we pick 4 who will go on to one (of two) semi-finals.

If a contestant does not reach the top 4, he/she is welcome to come back the following week, or any-or-all preliminary rounds.

In the preliminary, they sing one song... At no time can they repeat a song anywhere in the competition. In other words, to be in the money, they would need no less than 5 songs.

So, we send 10 singers, (drawn from a hat) to each of two semi-finals where they will sing two songs each.

Each semi-final sends five to the final... where again, they sing two songs.

The judges pick the top three, and the sponsors award the money and trophies.

We also have two sponsored $100 "Peoples' Choice" awards for Female & Male crowd favorites. These are decided by paid ballot.... One dollar per vote... Vote as many times as you'd like... All proceeds to the Salvation Army's Christmas food hamper fund. Last year, we donated over $1500.

We usually have 3 judges for the preliminary rounds, and at least 5 for the semis & finals... with our local radio station contributing one judge each week. The others, as mentioned earlier, are very difficult to find. It's gotten to the point where we have one committee member who's only job is attempting to recruit judges.

So, I was only half-kidding when I invited you folks to enter our contest, or sit in as a guest judge if you happen to be in the neighbo(u)rhood.

Cheers

Earl

_________________
Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]