The society tries to encourage the competitive exhibition of goldfish. This includes the development of acceptable exhibition standards and the training of judges to apply these standards. Both of these activities are discussed in the GFSA activities section.
Given standards and judges, the next piece of the puzzle is to have shows where goldfish hobbyists and professionals can exhibit their fish. The GFSA itself is constrained to an annual or biennial convention which, while open to all, will always be too far to travel for significant numbers of interested people. To gain wider recognition for the society and to promote the consistent application of well understood, accepted standards, one idea has been to officially sanction the goldfish shows of other organizations.
A sanctioned show would need to have a reputation for proper show management, to help protect the safety and health of the exhibited fish. The show would use one or more recognized GFSA judges (preferably assisted by apprentice judges), and would apply the GFSA judging standards and methods.
This was initially tried experimentally for several shows during the 1998 and 1999 season, on an informal basis. That experience indicated that there is an interest in this program. Unfortunately, the formal implementation of a show sanctioning program is somewhat hampered by the need for the development of GFSA standards for a number of breeds and of a larger group of trained judges. However the GFSA continues to work on this, and there are individuals in most regions of the US who are experienced GFSA judges.
Despite the fact that this remains an informal program, comments and suggestions from organizations looking for goldfish judging assistance are invited. Please send your inquiries to the .
Here are write ups for shows where the GFSA has supplied a judge and sponsored a trophy:
The Mid-Atlantic Koi Club's Koi America 2005 in Chantilly Virginia