contest judging

I went to the same show and I agree about the level of talent on display.  I can't comment on the judging but it would be hard for me to select three out of all the tremendous builds.  I'm told that region has some of the country's best modelers.  Many of the guys I met won at Nationals.  
Shamless plug here but my club, Southern Md Modelers, is hosting a show Oct 7 next year in Hollywood MD.  Keep it in mind.  

Did you guys have a table at the show? I'm pretty certain that your show is on my calendar. 

Yes.  We were at the the back of the hall right next to the Modelgeeks podcast guys.  Those guys are also Southern MD members.

I have always had concerns about contest judging.  Problem is, judges are volunteers.  I know at local and regional contests in this area, getting volunteers is difficult, and we take what we can get.  We have even had head judges who over-rule catagory judging because he thought someone in category was better.

I do think IPMS out to be more involved in requiring judges really use IPMS judging rules.

GSB, aka Chicago Style, which was advocated by the master Shep Paine, clearly simplifies judging, both when there are mu;tiple excellent entries and when the opposite happens. This is the standard in the figure world and it is not participation balloons all around. It encourages cooperationa and sharing of techniques. The skill you used to get gold can be passed on to the next person who isn't going to "beat" you next time. 1-2-3 pretty regularly gives an award, even a first place, to some quite poorly built models. GSB doesn't.