1. Name.
The Solo Piping Judges’ Association shall be an unincorporated association.

2. Objects.
The objects of the Association shall be:

i) To represent the interests of judges of solo piping competitions, in particular in relation to the organisation and conduct of competitions, and in doing so to liaise with competition promoters and organisers, the Joint Committee for Solo Piping Competitions, the Competing Pipers’ Association, the Piobaireachd Society and other relevant bodies;

ii) To maintain a list of accredited judges of solo piping, to allocate an appropriate grading to each judge on the list according to the judge’s knowledge, ability and experience, and to review the list and each judge’s grading at least annually;

iii) To seek to ensure that judges on the list are those whom the Association can recommend to competition organisers as competent to judge solo piping competitions, and to that end to facilitate and support training opportunities for all judges;

iv) To provide a forum for discussion and resolution of issues arising in relation to the judging of solo piping competitions;

v) To prepare a Code of Recommended Conduct for judges, that will be reviewed annually;

vi) To consider complaints from any source concerning the competence and conduct of judges on the list of judges;

vii) To investigate complaints using the agreed Complaints Procedure and to take such action as may be deemed appropriate;

3. Membership.
The judges whose names are on the accredited list and supplementary judges list (as detailed at Appendix A), that are managed and maintained by the Solo Piping Judges Association, shall be eligible to become members.

Annual Payment of the membership fee will be in June. Failure to pay within 21 days will result in suspension from the list until payment is made.

Those placed on the list of judges, both accredited and supplementary, will agree, as a condition of membership, to the terms of the Association’s Constitution, Code of Practice and Disciplinary procedure.

4. Committee and Office Bearers.
There shall be a Chairman, a Secretary, and a Treasurer, who shall be proposed, seconded and elected at the Annual General Meeting each year and shall remain in office until their successors are elected at the next Annual General Meeting. The Chair will be a senior judge in both categories. The treasurer may be ex officio.

Along with those, there shall be three committee members who will serve a term of three years, each to retire in rotation. Another member, elected by the general membership in a secret ballot, will replace the person who retires.

Decisions shall be made by a simple majority and in the event of equality of votes the Chairman shall have a casting or additional vote.

Casual vacancies may be filled temporarily by the remaining members of the Committee.

The Committee shall;

i) Consider applications for membership as detailed at Appendix B;

ii) Allocate gradings for Piobaireachd and/or Light Music to any judge who wishes to become a member of the Association as detailed at Appendix B;

iii) Review the gradings of all members at least annually;

iv) Review from time to time, the Code of Conduct and Complaint Procedure and shall make recommendations in respect of those matters to the AGM.

5. Disciplinary Action against Judges.
The Committee shall have power to discipline judges who have been found to breach The Code of Conduct, or who have behaved in any manner unbecoming of a Solo Piping Judge, including the power to suspend temporarily or to remove judges from the list of judges, according to the guidelines of the Association’s Complaints Procedure.

The Chairman will act within the remit of the agreed Complaints Procedure and will ensure that a record of events for all complaints is maintained.

6. Retiral
A judge wishing to retire from the association for any reason should inform the committee. A judge should retire if the ability to judge effectively is impaired. Reasons might include difficulty sustaining concentration or memory impairment. It is incumbent on the judge to inform the committee in suchcases. If this is not done and there is evidence of such impairment, the committee may, following due consultation and discussion with the judge concerned, remove the name of that judge from the list.

7. Meetings.
7.ii) subject to clauses 7.vi) and 10.

i) Ten, or one quarter of the total membership of the Association, whichever is the lesser, but including at least 3 members of the Committee, shall form a quorum at all meetings of the Association.

ii) Voting shall be by show of hands, unless a majority of those present decide that any particular vote shall be by ballot. Decisions of the Association shall be made by a simple majority and in the event of equality of votes the Chairman (or the acting Chairman of the meeting) shall have a casting or additional vote.

iii) The Association shall normally meet twice each year, one of the meetings being the Annual General Meeting. The Chairman and Secretary shall have discretion to call further meetings if they consider it to be in the interests of the Association. The Secretary shall give the members not less than 21 days’ written notice of the meeting.

iv) The Annual General Meeting shall transact the following business:

• to receive the Chairman’s report of the activities of the Committee during the previous year;
• to receive and consider the reports of the Committee for the previous year and the Treasurer’s report as to the financial position of the Committee;
• to elect the officers;
• to decide on any resolution notice of which shall have been given in writing to the Secretary not less than 14 days before the meeting and shall have been notified by the Secretary to Members not later than 7 days before the meeting;

v) a special General Meeting shall be called within 28 days of receipt by the Secretary of a requisition in writing signed by not less than 5 Members, stating the purposes for which the meeting is required and resolutions proposed.

vi) A member may vote for or against a written resolution, or any amendment proposed thereto or such resolution as amended, which is before the Annual General Meeting or before a Special General Meeting either in person or by proxy. The instrument appointing a proxy shall be in the following form, or in a form as near thereto as circumstances permit:-

I, _______________________________ of _______________________________

being a member of the above Association, hereby appoint _______________________________

of _______________________________ being a member of the Association, or failing whom the Chairman of the meeting, as my proxy to vote for me on my behalf at the (annual/ special) general meeting of the Association to be held on __________ day of __________ 20__ and at any adjournment thereof.



Signed this _________ day of __________ 20__.


Signature _______________________________

This form is to be used *in favour of the resolution/ *against the resolution (here identify the resolution to be voted on).

8. Sub Committees
The Committee may from time to time appoint from among their number such sub-committees as they may consider necessary and may delegate to them such of the powers and duties of the Committee as the Committee may determine.

9. Finance
The Annual subscription shall be such sum as shall be determined from time to time.

All monies payable shall be received by the Treasurer and deposited in a bank account in the name of the Association. There will be at least 1 (one) other signatory for the account. The Committee shall have power to authorise the payment of expenses to any Member and to any other person or persons for services rendered to the Association. The financial transactions of the Association shall be recorded by the Treasurer in such a manner as the Committee think fit.

10. Alteration of the Constitution
This constitution may be altered by resolution at an annual or special meeting provided that the resolution is carried by a majority of at least two-thirds of Members present.

11. Dissolution
In the event of dissolution of the Association any monies remaining will be distributed to piping causes.

Background

The Competing Pipers Association list has been in existence for some fifteen years but has not been widely used. Its formation was seen, by the CPA, as a means of providing additional judging resources and also preparing those Premier graded players, who wished to do so, for transition to the role of adjudicators when they retired from professional competition.

In 2023, the CPA revised the list to only include CPA members. This made sense for reasons of accountability.

The CPA also relaxed the requirement for Supplementary Judges to hold Premier grading in both Piobaireachd and Light Music, the revised list allowing competing pipers holding Premier status in one or other category to be included but only for the discipline in which they are graded Premier.

The 2023 Solo Piping Judges Association Annual General Meeting took the decision to endorse the revised list of Supplementary Judges and include it on our association’s website. This was done seamlessly.

Formal transition to SPJA management
Bringing the supplemental judging list into the domain of the judges’ association seems to be logical and pragmatic.

It provides the supplemental judge with a code of conduct, support, education and makes the lines of accountability clear.

It allows the SPJA to have complete governance of all things pertaining to the art of judging solo piping in the United Kingdom.

Practicalities
A simple registration form will require to be completed to join the SPJA Supplementary List. In the first instance, to facilitate the administration transfer of the current CPA list, invitations to register with the SPJA will be sent to those currently on that list.

Supplementary judges will be required to be associate members of the SPJA at the proposed sum of £5 per year. As associate members all parties will come under the umbrella of the SPJA Constitution, Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Procedure.

It is preferred, but not mandatory, that Supplementary Judges be members of the CPA.

Supplementary Judges may:

• only officiate at events of ‘B’ grade or below to prevent, as far as possible, the judging of their peers.
• should not officiate at any event where they are also competing.
• can only officiate for competitions / disciplines in which they hold Premier grading.

The use of the Supplementary List should be viewed as an additional resource to support the needs of piping competitions – particularly at the lower professional, amateur and juvenile grades. It must not be seen as an alternative to engaging current full SPJA members.

Conclusion
Bringing all aspects of solo piping judging, in the United Kingdom, under SPJA governance seems obvious and logical.

There have been examples of current players judging who are not members of the CPA or SPJA. This should plug that gap but communication with all piping convenors regarding using only SPJA members, full and associate, will be key going forward.

The proposed change will offer the new SPJA supplementary list members protection, education, mentorship and enhance the professional reputation of solo piping judging.

It will offer piping convenors more resources from a one stop source.

It is accepted and acknowledged that the SPJA governs solo piping judging within the United Kingdom and that judging practices overseas will be administered by the relevant piping convenor and/or association.

However, it would appear common sense that the use of an individual to judge, who has no association to any governed body, would be acceptable practice, no matter the location.

1. From November 2024 the procedure for joining the Solo Piping Judges Association List of Adjudicators is changing. There will be a window between 1^st September and the 15^th October each year for applications to be submitted. [For this year only, as applications were suspended pending review of procedures, the window will run from 1^st December 2024 until 15^th January 2025].
2. All applications must be submitted to the Secretary using the template provided on the SPJA website.  Applicants will be required to provide two references from the SPJA membership list (at least one of which must be a Senior Judge) providing evidence of why they believe the applicant is suitable to join the Association. Applicants (other than for the Supplementary List) must be retired from competing worldwide and remain retired.
3. Applications will be circulated to all Senior judges for comment.
4. Applications and Senior Judge Comments will be considered by a panel of three Senior Judges and the SPJA Chairman (chair), with the Honorary Secretary acting as secretariat for the panel.
5. The panel will make a recommendation to the committee for each application as to whether it is accepted, declined, or further information is required to make an objective assessment.
6. Successful applications to join the SPJA register will be granted ‘Approved’ judge status in the first instance.  Judges newly joining the Association’s list must serve a minimum period of two years before they can be considered for upgrade to Senior Judge.
7. Consideration for upgrade to Senior Judge will be made via the same process described at 4 above. A separate template for upgrade applications is provided on the SPJA website. Applications for upgrade must be initiated by recommendation of a current Senior Judge.
8. Numbers of Senior Judges will be determined by business requirements and applications will consider judging experience, knowledge of the music, ability to differentiate between performances at the highest level, willingness to mentor/coach less experienced judges, and generally act as a leader / ambassador for the solo piping community.
9. Approved Judges applying to become Senior Judges will require references from two Senior Judges with whom they have undertaken judging assignments at significant competitions within the last two years. 
10. All applications for admission to the register or upgrade to Senior status will be ratified by the Annual General Meeting. [An exception will be made in 2024/25 to avoid delay due to suspension of applications whilst procedures were reviewed].
11. In the first year, membership of the Supplementary List of Judges will be based upon the recommendations and criteria set by the Competing Pipers Association. The committee will review procedures and criteria as required
12. Confirmation of membership of the Supplementary List will be subject to ratification by the review panel (see 4 above) and SPJA Committee.