Now that the 2025 A&S championship is over. We have two years of additional analytics to publish on these years’ scores. Mistress Amalie published 2021, 2022, & 2023 which can be found HERE.
One reason we publish this data is so people can understand that a perfect score is not only very unlikely, but also not actually what is happening. Finalists may have some 6’s but a perfect score is not necessary to reach the finals. As was said in the earlier post, a perfect score of 6’s in all categories would be a 48. All 5’s would be a 40 and so forth. Please note that some rubric categories are weighted, if you are curious as to which ones, it is on the rubric sheets.
To that end here is the anonymized data.
2024:
Total number of entrants: 23
Number of finalists: 5
Average of all scores: 32.07
Average of finalists’ scores: 42.03
2025
Total number of entrants: 18
Number of finalists: 5
Average of all scores: 34.9
Average of finalists’ scores: 42.17
Note that the average finalist scores are in the 40s in the past two years. This is up from the previous three years. The number of finalists does fluctuate from year to year. Typically, what happens is there is a grouping of numbers that are particularly close and on the high end, which will end up being the finalists. If more scores are on the high end, sometimes the number of finalists increases. However, there is always the limitation of time, so we must also draw the line at a number of people that does not exceed our time on site.
Speaking of the interview:
For people who are new to A&S championships, the rubric and resulting score is the tool by which we give the Royalty a group to interview. That interview is just as much, or more important than the scores. The role of champion is a job, and the interview is the artisan’s chance to explain why they would be good at the job, for reasons outside of their prowess in the arts and sciences. The Royalty then chooses champions they think will represent themselves and the kingdom well.
That all being said, there are many types of Arts & Sciences that may not score well at championships but are of great value to our society. Beginner classes and summaries are not the stuff of A&S championship finals, but without them we wouldn’t be able to share our arts with newcomers and novices. Mundane theatrics may help immerse us in a medieval feel – even though we know the Pennsic castle isn’t real; it is special.
There may only be two official kingdom champions, but there is no limit on how many people may champion the Arts and Sciences. Every person who is an A&S minister, who runs a display, or competition, every person who gives out tokens to artisans, who teaches, who thanks that teacher, all of them, and others are champions of the Arts and Sciences! If you think this calls to you, maybe see if your local group has a minister, and find out if you might be able to fill that!
-Raziya bint Rusa
KMoAS