The Guild maintains anonymous judging as much as possible, therfore any work which has been previously shared or exhibited publicly or contains any identifiable makers mark will not be judged. This includes sharing photos publicly on social media. Please refrain from doing so until all work has been judged and remove/blank out any name or makers mark on the work prior to presenting it at the conference registration.

Any work found to be identifiable by the judges will be disqualified from any competitions and credit judging for which it was submitted.

Classification of Entrants Changes for 2025 Conference

We have made a change to the requirements for divisions for the conference in 2025. Anyone with a single standard credit in a discipline can now compete in the Amateur division, the mandatory move into the professional division will now apply when 2 standard credits or more is reached in a discipline.

See the following extract from the Competition rules:

Entrants are categorised into divisions based on both experience and credit status: Entrants are encouraged to compete 

Professional: Anyone who holds 2 credits or above  in the discipline they are entering (e.g. birds, mammals, etc.).
Amateur: Practising taxidermists with over 5 years of experience who holds 0-1 credits earned in the Novice in the entered discipline.
Novice: Practising taxidermists with less than 5 years of experience and no credits in the entered discipline.
If a Novice earns a credit in a discipline, they are required to submit as an Amateur in that discipline at future events.

When an Amateur earns 2 credits or above in a discipline they are required to submit as a professional in that discipline at future events. 

 Anyone may choose to compete in a higher class than their classification permits to maximise the learning potential of having work judged.

To maximise the learning potential of having work judged, competing with your peers and for maintaining good sportsmanship, you are encouraged to compete in the highest appropriate division relative to your ability.

Progression through the diivisions applies to each category individually (e.g. bird, mammal, game head, fish & reptile, osteology)

While we will try our best to have all the work entered for credits judged, we reserve the right to restrict the numbers of specimens entered per member if this becomes necessary.

Specimens must be submitted in one of the four categories below.

1.    For Higher Credit judging and written assessment

2.    For Standard Credit Judging and written assessment

3.    For verbal feedback only

4.    For Display Only

The verbal feedback category was introduced in 2023.

The purpose of this category is to free up the independent judge’s time to concentrate on credit judging, thus reducing the likelihood of restricting the number of specimens entered per person for credit judging.
The verbal feedback will be given by Guild members available with the most qualifications present on the day.
This will be introduced for Novice category only, as we consider that there is generally more information to give beginners and can be more useful and practical than lots of written notes.

For the Novice competitions, the placings will be decided on the judge’s opinions without any scoring . Any novice specimen judged for credits will also be included.

If you are classified differently dependant on the discipline (Mammal, Bird, etc) please submit a form for each of your classifications with only the relevant specimens registered on each.

Remember, if you're submitting a specimen for Higher Credit, you need to have a basic portfolio of how the specimen was put together to show this was your own manikin.  Without such portfolio, your item will NOT be judged.

The sheet must be completed in full.  If an element is not applicable to your specimen, write N/A (not applicable).  Don’t just leave it blank.

If you have more items, please re-submit this form.

PLEASE check Your Details and that you have agreed the Terms & Conditions above.