The BJCP Board approved a proposal from President Gordon Strong to create new international regions in the BJCP. Three new regions, representing Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA), will be created from the existing Northeast region that previously contained all international judges except western Canada. Canada will remain split between the North and Northeast regions.
The regions are being created now in our databases and information systems, but will not be formally activated until there are elections within those regions. Elections will be held during the normal annual election window, typically in April or May. The new regions of Asia-Pacific and EMEA will hold elections next year, along with the existing Northeast region. Since Diego Setti from Argentina was just elected as the Northeast Rep, he will represent the new Latin America region after the 2020 elections are complete.
To balance the election schedule with the addition of new regions in 2020, elections in three existing regions will move back one year. The Midwest, South, and Mid-Atlantic regions will hold elections in 2021 instead of 2020. The West region, which gains the state of Nevada from the Mountain/Northwest region, will hold elections on schedule in 2020. The remaining North America-based regions keep their current composition.
The North, Mountain/Northwest, and Latin America regions will hold elections in 2022. This three year schedule of elections will then repeat. This plan allows the unrepresented regions to hold elections at the first opportunity while avoiding having too many regions with elections at one time. The new region alignment plan also creates more balance in the comparative sizes of the regions. Website pages for elections and regions, as well as region maps, will be updated at a later date in advance of the 2020 elections.
New Election Schedule
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 (cycle repeats) |
|
Asia-Pacific Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) Northeast West |
Midwest South Mid-Atlantic |
Latin America Mountain/Northwest North |
Asia-Pacific Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) Northeast West |