AOS Awards

[glengary54]

AOS Awards
The American Orchid Society grants the following awards to orchids and exhibitors. AOS awards are a recognized measure of quality the world over and coveted by hobbyists and commercial growers alike. An AOS flower quality award adds value to an orchid in its own right, and as a parent for creating hybrids.
HCC (Highly Commended Certificate)
Awarded to orchid species or hybrids scoring 75 to 79 points inclusive on a 100-point scale.
AM (Award of Merit)
Awarded to orchid species or hybrids scoring 80 to 89 points inclusive on a 100-point scale.
FCC (First Class Certificate)
The highest flower-quality award, awarded to orchid species or hybrids scoring 90 points or more on a 100-point scale.
JC (Judges' Commendation)
Given for distinctive characteristics that the judges unanimously feel should be recognized but cannot be scored in the customary ways.
AD (Award of Distinction)
Awarded once to a cross representing a worthy new direction in Breeding. The award is granted unanimously without scoring by the judging team assigned.
AQ (Award of Quality)
Awarded once to a cross exhibited by a single individual as a group of not less than 12 plants or inflorescences of different clones of a hybrid or cultivated species. At least one of the inflorescences must receive a flower quality award and the overall quality of the group must be an improvement over the former type.
CBR (Certificate of Botanical Recognition)
Awarded to rare and unusual species with educational interest that has received no previous awards. The entire plant must be exhibited. This award is granted provisionally and filed with the judging center Chair pending taxonomic verification supplied by the exhibitor. (see Taxonomic Authorities)
CHM (Certificate of Horticultural Merit)
Awarded to a well-grown and well-flowered species or natural hybrid with characteristics that contribute to the horticultural aspects of orchidology, such as aesthetic appeal. This award is granted provisionally and filed with the judging center Chair pending taxonomic verification supplied by the exhibitor. (see Taxonomic Authorities)
CCM (Certificate of Cultural Merit)
Awarded to the exhibitor of a well-flowered specimen plant of robust health. The plant must score more between 80 and 89 points inclusive on a 100-point scale.
CCE (Certificate of Cultural Excellence)
Awarded to the exhibitor of a well-flowered specimen plant of robust health. The plant must score more than 90 points on a 100-point scale. Plants receiving this award represent the highest level of orchid culture.
American Orchid Society Special Annual Awards
Benjamin C. Berliner Award
This award is given by the AOS Trustees to the grower of the most outstanding example of the genus Lycaste or its closely allied genera to have been awarded during the preceding calendar year. Established in 2000, it was endowed by donations to honor Benjamin Berliner.
Butterworth Prize
This prestigious honor, the first of the AOS’s permanently endowed awards, was established in 1966. It is granted annually by the trustees of the Society to the grower of the plant exhibiting the finest orchid culture and awarded a Certificate of Cultural Merit or a Certificate of Cultural Excellence the preceding calendar year. The endowment for this award was established by Mrs. Rachel Butterworth Dietz in memory of her parents (John and Nancy Butterworth) and of George Butterworth Sr., president of the AOS from 1953 to 1956.
Milton Carpenter Intergeneric Onciidinae Award
The Milton Carpenter Intergeneric Oncidiinae Award was established by the AOS’s Board of Trustees in October 2005, to be presented annually to the grower of the orchid plant regarded as the preceding year’s most outstanding example of intergeneric hybridizing within the Oncidiinae alliance.
A plant may be simultaneously eligible for the Carpenter, Dugger or Riopelle Awards; however, the plant may not win more than one of these prestigious awards. The Carpenter Award was endowed by donations from friends of Milton Carpenter; commercial grower, hybridizer and past president of the AOS.
Robert B. Dugger Odontoglossum Award
The Robert B. Dugger Odontoglossum Award, which was established by the friends of Robert B. Dugger and members of the Odontoglossum Alliance, was presented by the AOS Trustees for the first time in 1996 to the grower of the most outstanding example of the Odontoglossum Alliance. It honors the work of a man who was responsible for the 1980s renaissance in odontoglossums.
Roy T. Fukumura Vandaceous Award
The most outstanding vandaceous orchid awarded by the AOS during the previous calendar year is the recipient of this award that was established in the autumn of 1992. The award recognizes the work of Roy Fukumura, in honor of his lifetime accomplishments in hybridizing.
Herbert Hager Phalaenopsis Award
This award was established in the spring of 1992 by members of the International Phalaenopsis Alliance and the friends of Herb Hager. It is granted annually by the Trustees of the AOS to the grower of the orchid plant, either species or hybrid, regarded as the most outstanding example of a Phalaenopsis species or hybrid awarded during the previous year. It recognizes the accomplishments of the late Herb Hager, his lifelong dedication to the advancement of orchids, especially phalaenopsis, through pioneering hybridizing and superior culture.
The Ernest Hetherington Cymbidium Award
This Award is given annually by the Board of Trustees to the grower of the orchid plant, either standard, miniature or novelty hybrid, or species, regarded as the most outstanding example of the Cymbidium Alliance to have been awarded during the previous calendar year. The award was established in 2006 and endowed by donations from the Cymbidium Society of America to honor Ernest Hetherington.
Fred Hillerman Award
This award was established in 2000, and is granted annually by the Trustees of the AOS to the grower of the orchid plant, either species or hybrid, regarded as the most outstanding example of the Angraecoid Alliance awarded during the previous year. The endowment for this award was established by friends of Fred Hillerman in recognition of his enthusiastic promotion and cultivation of angraecoids, his groundbreaking hybridization, and his unfailing commitment to the education of the public regarding these orchids.
Merritt W. Huntington Award
Merritt Huntington’s contributions to the orchid community were recognized when this award was founded in the Autumn of 1992 to recognize the most outstanding plant awarded a First Class Certificate by the AOS during the previous calendar year. The endowment for this award was established by the friends of the late Merritt Huntington in recognition of his lifetime dedication to the finest in orchids and his service to the American Orchid Society.
Ann and Phil Jesup Botanical Trophy
Established in 2002, the Ann and Phil Jesup Award recognizes the grower of the most outstanding orchid species awarded by the Society during the previous year. The award honors the many contributions of Ann and Phil Jesup, who have for decades given generously of their time to help advance the mission of the AOS.
Benjamin Kodama Award
This award is given by the AOS Trustees to the grower of the most outstanding member of the Dendrobium Alliance. Established in 1996, it was endowed by donations to honor Benjamin Kodama. One of the orchid pioneers of Hawaii, Kodama is respected worldwide as a first class hybridizer and grower of different genera.
Carlyle A. Luer Pleurothallid AwardThe endowment for this award was established by the friends of Carlyle A. Luer, MD, and members of the Pleurothallid Alliance in the spring of 1992 in recognition of his invaluable, unique taxonomic work that has inspired the explosive interest in the Pleurothallidinae in recent years. It is awarded to the grower of the most outstanding member of the Pleurothallidinae awarded during the previous year.
Masatoshi Miyamoto Cattleya Alliance Award
This award was established in the autumn of 1991 to be granted annually by the Trustees of the AOS to the grower of the most outstanding member of the Cattleya Alliance to receive an award the previous year. The endowment for the award was established by the friends of Masatoshi Miyamoto in recognition of his lifelong dedication to the breeding of fine cattleyas.
James and Marie Riopelle Miltonia Award
This award was established in the autumn of 1993 to recognize the most outstanding Miltonia or Miltoniopsis species or hybrid. It is named to honor Oregon’s Marie and Jim Riopelle, in recognition of their dedication to the advancement of orchids, especially Miltonia, through pioneering hybridizing and superior culture.
Bill Thoms Award
This Award is given to the grower of the orchid plant, either species or hybrid, which is regarded as the most outstanding example of the Bulbophyllinae Subtribe whose award was officially recorded during the preceding calendar year. The award was established in 2007 and endowed by donations to recognize Mr. Bill Thoms, noted Bulbophyllum grower.
W.W. Wilson Cypripedioideae Award
Established in the spring of 1990, this award is granted annually by the Trustees of the AOS to the grower of the most outstanding example of the Cypripedioideae awarded by the AOS during the previous calendar year. The endowment for the award was established by the friends of Bill Wilson in recognition of his more than 50 years of service to orchids and their growers.
Nax Botanical Trophy
This prestigious award, the first of the AOS annual awards, was established in 1964 to be granted each year by the Trustees of the AOS to the grower of the most outstanding species awarded by the Society. Mickey and David Nax’s love of orchid species has been uniquely preserved in some 700 species Mickey cast in gold. Twelve of these solid gold orchids are encased in the acrylic Nax Trophy, which was donated to the AOS in 1964 and is now permanently housed at AOS headquarters. The AOS Board of Trustees retired this award in 2002.







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[Bud]

Ok...I might be really ignorant about all this...but if I am just an ordinary household grower...what is the importance of all this awards?What are the credentials of the judges? Are they supposed to be titled PHD's or botanists or are they just picked by virtue of their social standing and clout in the community or a royal blood like Prince Albert who became the first honcho of the RHS even if he didnt know squat about orchids(where one judge just go to the mall and comes home with a title as judge=in fact I want to know the curriculum vitae or the background of a judge to really know if he deserves that title) and How does it affect my plants? Does this award give grants to help support labs and farms to produce new and improved brand new named orchids(because they name orchids by the seconds)? Is it like the Oscars...where the best actor is a Phalaenopsis this season? I dont see best actors get richer nor given any new projects or is the FCC/AM given a prize award like the Nobel Prize?

[glengary54]

Originally Posted by Bud

Ok...I might be really ignorant about all this...but if I am just an ordinary household grower...what is the importance of all this awards?What are the credentials of the judges? Are they supposed to be titled PHD's or botanists or are they just picked by virtue of their social standing and clout in the community(where one judge just go to the mall and comes home with a title as judge) and How does it affect my plants? Does this award give grants to help support labs and farms to produce new and improved brand new named orchids(because they name orchids by the seconds)? Is it like the Oscars...where the best actor is a Phalaenopsis this season? I dont see best actors get richer nor given any new projects or is the FCC/AM given a prize award like the Nobel Prize?

Bud - The American Orchid Society Judging Program is a 6-8 year program equivalent to a Masters Degree Program.

For you personally as a home grower the Awards may not have any value other than as a tool to use when buying plants to help you recognize quality in a flower.

The rest of your ramble is to absurd to even address

[Bud]

Sorry Glen...you find it absurd...but as you know I am ignorant about this judgings...
I just want to be informed what it is all about.
What is the relevance...
What is its purpose..
who bennefits from all this....
is it politics or is it a serious lifes calling?

because if being a judge of orchids must demand a serious lifes convictions as the priests and nuns beleive in...then I might devote my whole life to orchids...and judging it

[rangiku]

Originally Posted by Bud

because if being a judge of orchids must demand a serious lifes convictions as the priests and nuns beleive in...then I might devote my whole life to orchids...and judging it

Hi Bud, basically judges do devote their lives to judging. Time to sign up. It takes between 6 to 8 years to become a judge (they can cut you from the program at any time while you are a student) and to be a good judge you need to do the study equivalent of a doctoral dissertation. You are expected to go to monthly judging at the AOS center near (or not so near) you. This session is divided into several hours of talks in the morning and then judging in the afternoon. As a student, you are expected to give talks as well as do all the work presenting the orchids that are being judged. That entails measuring and counting flowers, researching them against previous award winners and speaking coherently whether they should be judged or not. If they do win an award, you get to write the official AOS description.

In addition, you are expected to judge at all the shows in your area and beyond. For example, the judges at the Northeast Judging Center in MA are expected to judge shows in NH, Cape Cod, Boylston MA, two shows in CT and it is highly recommended to judge at shows in NY, NJ and even PA. And, this is as a student judge.

Lots of traveling. Lots of studying to become a judge and lots of continued studying after to keep current and be a good judge.

I hope this helps.

P.S. I am not a judge.

[glengary54]

Don't forget that they don't get paid or reimbursed for their time or expenses.

[camille1585]

Bud, the purpose of this thread was purely to have the information in one place. The issue of awards came up in another thread were someone was wondering about the meaning of the letters after the name of an orchid she was wanting to buy.
And for instance I just bought an orchid that happens to have an FCC/AOS. I had no idea what that corresponded to, other than it being an award.

So thank you Glen for posting all that information!

[nenella]

Thanks for posting Glen.

[Bud]

Dont get me wong guys...if I come out rambling nonsensically. This is a very enlightening info that Glen posted. I just wanted to be enlightened more ...

[goodgollymissmolly]

OK, Bud. I'll enlighten you. I'm damn tired of your useless tirades. You were recently thrown off another forum for the same thing. On this forum you recently got into a total snit when you started a thread about a Cycnodes about which you knew nothing what so ever. Someone who has a very good grasp of the Catasetum alliance tried to help you and you went into crazy mode with a bunch of BS.

Now, dammit, you have launched into another crazy thread. Since I've spent the last 4 years being an observer and then a Student Judge and will spend another 3-5 years as a Probationary Judge, I resent your hurling accusations about judging which you seem to know nothing about. Of course knowing has not hampered your irrational comments on any subject so far.

Why don't you try learning something before spouting off. That would be refreshing.