So you've checked out your breeder and found the right cat. Hopefully, you're starting to show in Premiership, or maybe a Household Pet, which requires no pedigree or registration. You've gotten in touch with CFA, your cat is named, registered and entered in a show. Congratulations!
Now, you head to the show hall. What do you need? Well, hopefully you've got a nice cat, one that your breeder thinks will grand. And if your breeder isn't helpful in showing, or doesn't live near you, there are lots of people you'll meet at a show who will help you. You have given your cat a bath, if a shorthair a day or two before, if a longhair the night before or even the morning of a show and blown it dry. You have your show curtains, your grooming supplies, and your treats - for you and the cat! Now what?
Make no mistake, showing isn't something that comes naturally to all of us. You'll learn tips of grooming, which cats like your cat and which don't, and how scoring works - the hardest of all!! So what's with all those ribbons, and how on earth do you get points?
Here's where I refer you to CFA again, to their novice exhibitor site. Okay, but even with that help - it took me several shows to figure this stuff out. It's not as simple as it seems. The basics:
Household Pet. Get the easiest out of the way. Household pets each earn a ribbon for merit, which is red and white. They're usually cloth - any cloth ribbons, you are welcome to take with you. Any plastic ones, leave behind (there will be cloth ones on the judge's table for you to take). If they appear healthy and are at least of reasonable temperament - and yes, give them a bath - they will be given a ribbon. Pedigreed cats with disqualifying traits (like a tail kink) can be shown here, as well. Your breeder will appreciate you not entering her full show name and pedigree information. -wink-
Pedigreed cats are shown as kittens (four to eight months old), champions (8 month + of age, still intact) and premiers (8 months + in age, neutered or spayed). The rules apply to all of them - with the exception of the purple ribbon, which I'll leave for last. Keep in mind - boys are judged first, then girls, for each breed, and each color within that breed.
Cats in Championship and Premiership enter their first show in the Open class. These are cats that have no title in CFA. Once they earn six of these red, white and blue Winners Ribbons, they attain the most basic title - that of either Champion or Premier. They can then go on and work to become a Grand.
Cats in the Open category DO compete against one another. Only one male and one female in each breed and color class may receive a winners ribbon. For example - if there are two Persian copper eyed white female opens in championship (non-titled whole cats) - only one will get the Winners' ribbon in each ring. (Female, solid color, white.) If there are six different colored Selkirk Rex open females in championship, of six different colors - only one will get a winners ribbon (Selkirks only have ONE color class - ALL championship colors.)
Before you ask - Champion and Premier titles are won separately. That means if a Grand Champion is neutered and then shown in Premiership - it starts all over again as an OPEN.
First, Second, and Third Place. There is a First, Second or Third Place for each gender, each category, and each color class, within a breed. This means there can be six first place ribbons in a ring of six cats of the same color - if you're looking at six white Turkish Angoras, but there is one male open, one female open, one male Champion, one female Champion, one male Grand Champion, and one female Grand Champion - they ALL get a blue ribbon. They each were the first place for their gender, category, and color. However, if you're looking at six white female Grand Champions in that same ring - only one will receive blue (first), one red (second), one yellow (third).Lost you yet? It can get pretty confusing due to the way breeds are segregated, called "color classes," that most people don't know about. Generally, you have one class of solid colors, one class of smoke colors, one of Bi-color (two colors, something and white), Parti-color (three colors, like calico) and tabby pattern cats. Generally. There are LOTS of exceptions - ask a person in the ring, to get the particulars. Thankfully some breeds only come in one color - Korats, Russian Blues, Chartreux...maybe these blues are on to something!! LOL The one thing that IS clear - no cat receiving second, third or lower (no blue, red or yellow) may later be placed above the cat in first in that ring. That means, sensibly, that judge cannot then make his second place cat his best of color, and first place second best of color (read on).
Next comes Best of Color, a black ribbon, and Second Best of Color, a white one, come next. As you might expect, this is determined by color class. These cross categories - ONLY the color class is judged. So in the aforementioned six white Turkish Angoras, opens, Champions and Grand Champions - only one will get Best of Color, only one Second Best of Color. The judge can give it to any cat - no matter open, or Grand - as they all were given First place. However, in the second example of all Grands - the best and second best must follow the First and Second placings. Again, this is the second "layer" of getting to the top cat of the breed - a cat who has not gotten the blue ribbon cannot suddenly "leapfrog" over the cat that beat it and be given Best of Color.
And now, to the big stuff. Best of Breed (brown) and Second Best of Breed (orange). This is from all cats, all categories, all colors (or division - get that in a second). The Turkish Angora example here is a bad one - as the cat in both examples with the First place and Best of Color must then get Best of Breed, as again, no other lower placed cat can "leapfrog" over it. However, let's say you have a ring full of Cornish Rex. There are whites, and tabbies, and bicolors, so a bunch of cats have blue and black ribbons on their cages. At this point, the judge picks the two that were the best, and gives them brown and orange ribbons.I'm going to sneak to Regional and National points, because it's easy. A cat who gets a brown or orange ribbon earns Regional/National points for each other cat of its breed that it has beaten. For example, you have six Cornish Rex in your ring. A bicolor gets the brown, a white gets the orange. The bicolor has just earned 5 points, for defeating five other Cornish Rex cats (no matter their title); the white has earned 95% of the bicolor's points, as it beat the others, but not the bicolor. The other cats earn no Regional/National points.
A quick word about "Divisions" - only the Persians have them, and it's because they largely outnumber other breeds at shows. (Most other breeders will tell you, including myself, that it is patently unfair. If you are truly giving a best of BREED - then DO THAT. I digress.) The Persians therefore only compete within divisions, and do not technically have a best of "Breed" - they have a best of breed in solid color, best of breed in smoke or shaded color, best of breed in silver or golden, best of breed in tabby pattern, best of breed in bicolor and calico, best of breed in particolor, and best of breed in Himalayan.
Back to the ribbons. Last but sometimes most important is the purple ribbon, Best Champion or Premier. To become a Grand, whether Champion or Premier, a cat must beat a certain number of cats in their category. For a Champion, it is 200; for a Premier, it is 75. This is not because it is easier in Premiership - the counts are vastly lower, and therefore less chances exist for Grand points.Okay, so let's say you have a Champion. You want that purple ribbon. If you get it, you get a point for EVERY *CHAMPION* (only Champions, not Opens or Grands) defeated in that ring. Doesn't matter their color or gender - only one champion per ring gets that purple ribbon, and only that cat will get Grand points for that ring.
Next up are the FINALS - the chance for more Grand points and Regional/National points. You'll first do the "bottom half" or "first part" of a final - in champions, this is three longhairs, and three shorthairs; premiers are only two of each. Keep in mind ONLY Champions make this part of the final - they compete against Champions/Premiers of other breeds at this point for more Grand points. They will then get a point for every Champion beaten at the show - even from other breeds - if they make the final. (Cats who make a final cannot also count their breed win points - you get only the highest total. Let's say that same Cornish Rex who got 5 points gets into a final and beats 20 other Champions - he leaves that ring with 19, not 24.) A quick note on what tripped me up about this - here is one situation where it may *appear* to not follow the mechanical rules. In other words, let's go back to those Cornish Rex. Let's say the bicolor (best) was a Grand Champion, the white (second best) a Champion. The white Champion makes the "first part" of the final - the Champion portion (NOT the top 10). The bicolor does NOT necessarily need to be in the top 10 - think of the Champion portion of the final as entirely separate from the "rest" of the cat show. It does not affect the top 10 - unless one of the Champions is in that top 10 (so if the white Cornish is 10th Best Cat - the bicolor MUST be 1-9th Best Cat.)
And the best part - the "top half," normally the top 10 (top 15 kittens if over 100 have entered, in championship for over 150, and in premiership over 75). These cats can be opens, Champions/Premiers, or Grands - just keep in mind no cat may be placed "out of order" - if both the bicolor and white Cornish Rex make the final (top or bottom) the white CANNOT be placed above the bicolor. Each cat in the top half of a final will then get one Regional/National point for each cat defeated (in all categories, open, champion/premier, or grand). Those go toward end of year awards. And that's that!!