P.O. Box 2480, Stoke on Trent, ST7 2WT UKFCG FACETING COMPETITION. SIXTEENTH UKFCG FACETING COMPETITION. January 2010 1) GENERAL. A copy of the UKFCG Competition Rules will be supplied to competitors, on request. A brief extract of these rules is given below. Advanced cutters are not eligible to compete in the Regular section. 2) COMPETITION STONES. The competition is in two sections; one for "Regular" cutters only, the second section is OPEN to any cutter. The design selected for the REGULAR section is the "REGULAR 2010", gemcad by JCF. The design selected for the OPEN section is "OPEN 2010” a generic design. See diagrams. The REGULAR section will be judged in category Al of Appendix 1 of the Competition Rules, with a specified WIDTH of 8.0mm to 15.0mm, on integers, ± 0.1mm. The stone should be cut from any coloured natural or synthetic material (which must be identified when the stone is sent in) with any RI 1.54 and above. This section is for cutters who do not yet have an Advanced Cutter certificate. The OPEN section will also be judged in category Al of Appendix 1 of the Competition rules. The stone should be cut from any coloured natural or synthetic material with any RI 1.54 and above to any WIDTH greater than or equal to 8.00mm. Any cutter may compete in this section. 3) CONDUCT OF COMPETITION. a) JUDGING. All stones will be judged by an AFLACA or UKFCG accredited judge. The judge's decision on technical marking will be final. Procedural questions will be resolved by the chairman of the judging committee and his decision will be final. Each entrant will receive a critique of his/her stone together with the mark it achieved and where marks were lost. See also "Display" below. The critique of the cut stones returned to the less experienced members should be of value to them and may help them decide which areas of their technique needs attention or improvement. b) EXCLUSIONS. No judge or any members of his immediate family may compete in any section of the competition of which he/she is the judge. Providing that there is no pecuniary reward involved, any officer of the Guild (chairman, secretary and treasurer) may compete on an equal footing with any other Guild member, which could involve winning a trophy and /or certificate, and have any such achievement published in StoneChat. c) DISPLAY. All the stones cut for the competition will be displayed during at least two shows of the year, to give other members an opportunity to view the stones. The Regular stones will be identified by code (unless a certificate has been awarded, in which case the stone will be identified by name) so that only the cutter will know which is his/her stone. This also applies to the newsletter report. The cutter of the winning stone in the Regular section will be awarded a certificate. The members taking second and third place in the Regular section will also receive a certificate. The winner of the OPEN section will receive a certificate and a plaque engraved to show the 2010 OPEN champion, providing, at the discretion of the competition committee, the quality is adequate. This plaque will be retained by the winner for nominally one year and be returned in time to be engraved for the following year. The marks awarded by any entry will count towards assessment grading, unless otherwise indicated above. See Competition Rules. d) CHARGE. There is no charge for members in good standing. A donation of £5.00 from non members may be expected to cover costs. 4) APPLICATION and TIMETABLE. The timetable is as follows: i) No written application to enter is required this year. ii) A copy of the competition rules will be sent out by the chairman of the judging committee (Tim Smith, see address elsewhere in this issue) if requested. iii) Cut stones, protected in your own box, to be with the competition chairman by 24th. June 2010. iv) The stones will be returned to the competitors after the final display show. Nominally Nov. 2010. v) Competition stones will be returned to the competitor by regular first class mail. vi) The Guild can not be responsible for any losses in the mail system. A card or e-mail will be sent to the cutter acknowledging receipt of a competition stone. Please enter, regardless of your level of experience. Experienced cutters will show support for the Guild and less experienced cutters may painlessly learn something from the experience.