Objective: To establish new honorific titles of “Distinguished Certified” and “Distinguished National” for active judges who meet the criteria outlined as follows. Just as the Grand Master rank indicates additional program service and experience, but no higher knowledge above the Master rank, the same applies for the Distinguished title for Certified and National judges.
Purpose: To recognize and show appreciation for judges who have shown a longstanding commitment to the BJCP and continue to volunteer their time in support of judging activities and the BJCP. The BJCP recognizes that only a small percentage of judges will achieve the ranks of National and Master, and appreciates that tenured Certified judges will always be essential to the vitality of the organization and the beer judging community. The BJCP realizes that, for a variety of reasons, many individuals do not desire to re-test to advance to higher BJCP levels, and are content to continue judging at their current rank. However, many of those individuals also do the heavy lifting of organizing competitions and mentoring new judges into the community, and their efforts and commitment should be recognized accordingly.
Criteria:
Distinguished Certified:
– 40+ experience points, of which at least 25 are judging points.
– 15+ years as a BJCP judge
– Current active status.
Distinguished titles will not be awarded retroactively to lapsed judges, but lapsed judges who regain their active status will immediately be eligible for the Distinguished title if all other criteria are met.
Distinguished National:
– 60+ experience points, of which at least 30 are judging points.
– 15+ years as a BJCP judge
– 60+ actual exams graded
– Current active status.
Distinguished titles will not be awarded retroactively to lapsed judges, but lapsed judges who regain their active status will immediately be eligible for the Distinguished title if all other criteria are met.
Implementation: Judges will be awarded the Distinguished title immediately and new certificates will be generated in the online portal. Distinguished judges will be eligible to request a new name badge with their new title.