Ever since its establishment in 1956 (!), International Florist Organisation Florint has put a lot of effort into improving the quality level of floral design competitions. Because professionalism matters. It helps to bring out the best in the competing florists and reflects well on the entire sector. We have developed competition blueprints for this purpose, in which the experiences of many years are collected…
But another important aspect of competition quality has to do with the capabilities of the involved judges: are they real professionals? Is the end result objective? To ensure just that, Florint has developed a complete judging system. With courses offering professional tutoring, systematic analysis, and step by step guidance along the way. This system, with our accredited judges, is now recognized as the standard in professional floral design assessment all over the world. To understand why, read on!
Florint’s judging system consists of 3 parts, explained below:
A standardized measurement system based on a 100-point scale: Florint’s “100-points judging system”
An accreditation system for professional floral design judges: our “Judges’ Certification”, or JudgCert
A list of professional judges who have successfully passed their accreditation exams, and are now certified to perform as judges in national and/or international floristry competitions: the “Judges List”
Florint’s professional team of floral design judges
A little more than 100 candidates have, so far, taken part in Florint’s judges’ certification courses and successfully completed their exams. All of them are now listed on our Judges List, meaning they are available to perform professionally in national and/or international competition settings. The courses have been organized in various European countries over the last years: they are organized by the national florist associations that are members of Florint.
The current head of Florint’s judging efforts – and president of the jury – is Thomas Ratschker from Germany. Thomas recently did a fantastic job leading the judging efforts during Eurofleurs 2017, the European Young Florist Championship.
(Are you interested in employing Florint’s accredited judges in your floral design competition? Please send a quick email describing your project and vision tohello@florint.org. We will gladly provide you with more information and answer any questions you may have!)
The judges’ certification system
The JudgCert system accredits judges only after a thorough evaluation of the candidate’s capability to perform professionally as a judge. The training and assessment cover both the theoretical and practical aspects of the judging process. The courses are given by internationally respected floral design teachers with many decades of experience. The diploma, therefore, guarantees a candidate’s skill and objectivity.
At first, candidates can only apply to be national judges – and practice on a national level. Once the candidate is certified on a national basis, they can apply for the international Judges’ Certification assessment. Only after the successful conclusion of that evaluation, will they be able to practice floristry judging at the advanced level of international competitions. The assessments focus on judging floral design in competition settings, but also deal with assessing floristry students in an educational setting.
Our European Judges’ Certification system is based upon the competence profile for a professional international judge. This profile has been established by Florint in association with our national member associations and key partners such as Stoas University and education network Flornet. Its key objectives are:
• to enhance the reputation of (certified) international judges
• to function as an indicator of experience, skill and professionalism
• to provide a recognized international accreditation to European/international judges
• to encourage the development of knowledge and skills pertinent to professional judging
• to allow judges to demonstrate outstanding professionalism to peers and to potential prospects
Are you interested in becoming a certified European floral design judge? Would you like to receive news about upcoming Judges’ Certification assessments? Please send a short email indicating your interest to hello@florint.org!
The 100-points judging system
Florint has also established a standardized scoring system for floral arrangement known as the international 100-points judging system. This system is easy to use and transparent, yet sophisticated. It is based on the internationally well-established principles of floral design, which any professional florist will be familiar with.
Since its launch, about 30 years ago, the 100-points judging system was constantly improved upon, as it kept being tested in real-life competition situations. Nowadays, it is the most well-balanced and rigorously tested scoring system in existence. It is actively being used in countless floristry competitions.
Judging in Florint’s own floral design competitions
International Florist Organisation Florint is the team behind the renowned Europa Cup, the European Florist Championship, as well as Eurofleurs, the European Young Florist Championship. Both championships are held every 4 years, on average, and feature many of the world’s best senior and junior floral designers. The judging of Florint’s championships is, of course, in the hands of our esteemed team of judges, led by experienced jury president Thomas Ratschker.
We are currently looking ahead to the upcoming Europa Cup 2020 in Katowice, Poland (June 5 and 6). You can read more about that amazing championship by clicking here.The most recent edition of the Europa Cup was in Genoa, Italy, in 2016. The latest edition of Eurofleurs was held in 2017, in the city of St. Truiden in Belgium: see this news article for details as well as photos of the stunning arrangements.
Judging in other floristry competitions
The professional floral design assessors on Florint’s ‘Judges List’ do not only judge Florint’s own championships. Many other groups that organize florist championships acknowledge our expertise, and call on us for help in organizing the judging of their contests.
For example, a team of our judges took care of the scoring process in Interflora’s 2015 World Cup in Berlin as well as the recent Interflora Championship in China (April 2018). And a group of our trained judges just headed to South Korea for Flower Moments 2018, an international floral design competition held during the famous Horticulture Goyang exhibition!
We gladly offer these services, without a commercial goal in mind. After all, Florint is a non-profit with a mission to help professionalize floral design competitions everywhere. In order to give the florist the optimal platform for his artwork, and to promote and elevate the entire flower industry!
Thank you for taking the time to read all about our judging system! Do you still have some questions? Or are you interested in making use of our exceptionally qualified judges for your competition? Get in touch with us now via hello@florint.org, and we will gladly tell you about the possibilities!
Source: Florint
