The role of a Camera Club Judge is:

* educational for the judge, the audience, and the competitors
* to model fairness, decisiveness, and honesty
* to willingly and thoughtfully accept the responsibility for disappointing and encouraging
* to approach the task in a spirit of generosity
* to convey one's appreciation and passion for photography
*  awareness of personal biases and emotional responses with a view to furthering open-mindedness
* provide a needed service to competitions to help photography thrive
* to share a thoughtful and thought-provoking articulation of the visual essay presented

The Criteria I use when judging include:

* entering the experience with an open mind and a view to learning
* awareness of my own biases so I can better fulfill my responsibility of fairness
* respect of the rules of the particular competition and being time-sensitive accordingly
* trusting my own emotional, visual, and technical responses to what I see
* a willingness to be decisive, honest, and explanatory as best I am able
* being present with each image to allow it to speak to me so I can articulate my response, if requested
* being aware of craftsmanship, composition, and creativity of the artist
* reflecting on how well the image communicates; what mood, feeling, and emotion it evokes
* articulating how and to where my eye is drawn
* noticing creative considerations the artist used
* noting technical aspects such as sharpness, exposure, color, composition, contrast, tonal range, and overall presentation
* identifying visual communication regarding lines, shapes, texture, color, balance, and proportion