General Rules

1.  Please see below for eligibility to win awards. Points are awarded for performance at all cat shows during a calendar year in Australia and New Zealand.  Show results must be received within 8 weeks of a show with the exception of shows held during November and December when show results must be received no later than 15th December of that calendar year. Award recipients do not need to be resident in Australia or New Zealand, so the overseas breeder of an imported cat can win an award if he/she is a member.

2.  Award certificates are provided for the following categories:- 
top 10 exhibits, top 10 cats, top 10 kittens,top 10 desexed cats, top 5 stud cats, top 5 queens, best Somali, runner-up best Somali, best and runner-up exhibits for each colour and coat length, 5 best breeders.
A certificate will not be awarded to an exhibit which accrued less than 10 points.
In any colour or coat length categories where there are less than 5 competitors only the best of colour or coat length will be awarded a certificate in that category.

3.  In the Kitten, Cat and Desexed Cat categories, points are awarded to exhibits owned by members, according to the rules and scales below.

4.  In the Exhibit category, points are identically accumulated to an exhibit owned by a member, even though it may have undergone a change in status during the year, e.g., from kitten to cat. (This becomes more complicated if an exhibit has exceeded one of the maxima indicated below, e.g., it has 33 kitten and 20 cat results - contact the co-ordinator if you want to know how that is calculated).

5.  Points gained by kittens and litters are awarded to their sires and dams, in the Stud Cat and Brood Queen categories, respectively. The stud cats or brood queens (but not necessarily the kittens themselves) must be owned by members.

6.  In the Cattery category, points gained by kittens, litters, cats and desexed cats bred by that cattery, are awarded to the cattery, if the cattery owner is a member. The exhibits themselves need not be owned by members.

7.  For kittens only 30, and for cats and exhibits only 40 ring results (some of which could be 0 points) will be counted in the awards. For exhibits with more than the maximum number of point-scoring results counted in these awards, points will be calculated pro rata (e.g., 30/36ths of total points for a kitten with 36 results).

8.  Rule No. 7 applies equally to the consequential points gained by a sire, dam and breeder.

9.  All fractional points will be rounded to the nearest whole point.

10. For the purpose of these awards, "Best in Show" means Best Shorthair, Best Group 3, Best LH or Semi-LH (for Somalis in some areas), Best Male or Female Kitten, Cat or Desexed Cat in Show.

Points Score

1.  For Abyssinian or Somali Best in Section (kitten equivalent of Challenge), Challenge, Best of Colour or Best of Sex awards, the number of points gained is equal to the maximum number of opponents beaten.

2.  The Best Abyssinian Kitten, Litter, Cat or Desexed Cat similarly receives a number of points equal to the number of opponents beaten.

3.  The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Abyssinian Kitten, Litter, Cat or Desexed Cat receives a proportion of the points that would have been gained for winning the class, provided they beat at least one exhibit. These proportions are: 2nd - 80%; 3rd - 60%; 4th - 40%; 5th - 20%.

4.  For being placed in the Top-5 or first five of a Top-10 in Show, an exhibit gains bonus points, additional to those won in Aby/Somali classes. These bonus points are shown in the table below.

5.  An exhibit gains 8 extra bonus points for a Best Exhibit (in Group or in Show) win out of 50 or more, and 4 additional bonus points for being Runner-up to Best Exhibit out of 50 or more, in each ring. Where the number of exhibits is less than 50, the bonus points are halved to 4 for winning and 2 for being runner-up. An exception is made for the Club show and The Abyssinian Breeder show, where 8 points for Best Exhibit and 4 points for R/U to Best Exhibit will be awarded for each ring, even if the number of exhibits does not reach 50.

6.  Best Aby/Somali Cat/Kitten/Desexed Cat must gain a total of at least 4 points more than the runner-up. R/U to Best Aby/Somali Cat/Kitten/Desexed Cat must gain a total of at least 2 points more than the next highest-placed Aby/Somali Cat/Kitten/Desexed Cat. This rule applies only where males and females (or neuters and spays) have separate top-5 or top-10 awards.

7.  Best Litter in Show gains a number of points equal to the number of litters it beat. No points are gained for winning any other class.

8.  Where the number of beaten opponents is not known, points cannot be gained.

9.  For Aby/Somali wins, the number of exhibits BENCHED is counted; for Best in Show wins, the number of exhibits ENTERED is counted.