The Americanized-German grading system shall be used at all recognized meets of this club. The following grading system shall be used: E (Excellent) - Excellent show bird, very good condition, near perfect. HS (Highly Superior) – Outstanding show bird in good condition with some faults. S (Superior) - Superior show bird in good condition with some faults. G (Good) - Good specimen but showing major and minor faults. Useful as a stock bird. I (Inferior) - Sick, crippled, very poor condition, not representative of the breed.

A judge may assign a bird a grade up to HS. In no case shall less than two (2) qualified swallow judges be allowed to assign the grade of “E” to a bird. When two (2) qualified judges are not available no “E” grade shall be assigned.

A numerical placing may be assigned when necessary to determine awards or specials as follows: the highest rated bird shall be number one (1). Example: If one bird receives an “HS” and another birds receives an “S”, the “HS” bird automatically becomes the first place or number one (1) bird. If, however, two birds in the same class receive the same rating the judge may assign one bird an additional numerical rating of one (1). Example: Each bird receives “HS”, then one bird may be assigned “HS-l”, etc. No numerical rating shall be given below the “S” rating and only then when it is necessary to make a selection for purposes of an award or awards. The assigning of additional numerical ratings shall be discouraged.

When selecting the champion or other specials, only the highest rated birds shall be considered, example: if two birds receive the “E” rating, only those two birds shall be considered for champion, etc. If no “E” ratings are given, then the next highest rating (HS) shall be considered. In no case shall birds of two different ratings be in competition with each other, the higher rated bird is automatically placed ahead of all lower rated birds.

The additional numerical classification is only valid within the class in which it is assigned. Example: If a class has an “E-1” rated bird and an “E-2” rated bird, the “E-1” rated bird shall compete with all other “E” rated birds for champion, etc. If the above “E-1” rated bird is awarded champion, the “E-2” bird from the same class as the champion shall compete for reserve champion (second best).

After all of the possible awards for the “E” rated birds have been exhausted, the “HS” or the birds from the next highest category are brought up for the remainder of the awards. No special awards shall be given below the “S” category.

The following special awards shall be given at all recognized club meets and be assigned the following letter designation after the rate: Best Crested Fairy Swallow - BC; Best Silesian Swallow - BS, Best Fullhead Swallow - BF; Best Tiger Swallow - BT; Best Thuringian Spot Swallow - BTS; Best Thuringian Fullhead Swallow - BTF; and Best Nuremburg Swallow - BNS. Example: If the blue white bar crested fairy swallow is rated “HS” and is selected as the best crested fairy swallow, it shall receive the letters “HS-BC”. The numerical classification, if any, shall be removed when specials are assigned to the rating.

The following awards may be given at recognized club meets and when given shall be assigned the following letter designations after the rating: Champion Swallow - CH; Reserve Champion Swallow – Res. CH; Best Opposite Sex Swallow - BOS; and Best Young Swallow -BY. Example: Blue white bar crested fairy swallow - E-BC-CH.

When Best of Variety specials, such as red white bar silesian, are awarded, the following letter destinations shall be used: Best of Variety - BV. Example: Best red white bar silesian swallow - HS-bv. (Note: This award is noted in lower case letters.)

All other awards may be assigned letter designations as deemed by the director of the district in which the show is being held and/or the club secretary. All special awards shall be noted in lower case letters and be defined in the show report.

STANDARD
The standard of this club shall be the Swallow Standard as adopted by this club in June of 1972 and published in the American Pigeon Journal of August 1972, page 498 (referred to as the German Toy Special). In 1984, the Thuringian and Nuremburg Standards were adopted. They are the Standards that appeared in the Summer 1984 U.S.C. Swallow Bulletin.