 
| It is the mission of the FBA to promote the uniquely American tradition of barbecuing meat over natural wood or charcoal-fired heat and smoke through education, family-friendly fellowship, and competition. |
In order to provide a professional contest program, FBA instituted a Certified Judges program when it was founded. This program provides training for new members in the art of competition BBQ judging and seeks to ensure the quality of judging and a fair scoring methodology for all FBA sanctioned contests. New members must complete the training program in order to become a Certified BBQ Judge.
FBA Judge Requirements |
- Complete the Judges Seminar training class.
- Maintain an active FBA Membership.
- Be present for the Judges Briefing at any contest your are confirmed to judge. Failure to be present means that you will not judge that contest. Check-in for judges starts at 9am on the day of the contest and ends at 9:30am. The Judges Briefing begins at 9:30am, followed by the Table Captains Briefing. (NOTE: Judges check-in and briefing times may be adjusted by the event Organizer to adapt to changed meat turn-in times.)
- If you fail to show for three contests that you are confirmed to judge without notifying either the Organizer or one of the Reps, you will be removed from the list of judges for future contests.
- Judge all four categories at any contest you are seated at for judging.
- During the contest, you are not allowed to visit with the cook teams. Doing so will cause you to be removed from the judging that day.
- After the contest, you may visit with the cook teams, however you may not discuss any part of the judging including your scores. Doing so will cause you to be removed from the list of judges for future contests.