Killifish Exhibitor of The Year  (KEY)

Robert Felmey Memorial Award

KEY results by year

Download the KEY sanctioning form or

 Submit the sanctioning request online

KEY CHARTER

ARTICLE I – DEFINITION

In accordance with the provisions below, the AKA establishes a “Killifish Exhibitor of the Year” award. This award is to be known as the “Robert Felmey Memorial Award.”
An annual award will be given to that member who accumulates the most points over the course of the fiscal year as described below. The points accumulated in the Convention during the fiscal year will be counted along with all points gained in competition in sanctioned events during the fiscal year as per Article IV. The fiscal year shall begin on June 1st of each year for all show categories.
Points are not carried from year to year. The KEY award is established to recognize those members who, by breeding and exhibiting killifish, have helped to foster the ideals and aims of the American Killifish Association.

ARTICLE II – SANCTIONING OF EVENTS
Any killie class in a local show or convention is considered sanctioned for purposes of this award provided that:
1.The KEY Chairman is notified of the event at least 8 weeks prior to the event date by a participating AKA member or other official from the sponsoring organization.
2.The event is advertised in at least two issues of the AKA Business Newsletter prior to the event.
3.Mail-in entries are permitted.
4.Complete results are sent to the KEY Chairman within two weeks of completion of the event.
5.The show committee shall, within thirty days of the show date, confirm receipt of all mail-in entries, provide written notification of their placement in competition, provide any applicable awards and settle any associated financial responsibilities. The official show date for this purpose shall be considered the last day of the event.

If the obligations of the sponsors are not fulfilled on a timely basis, the KEY Chairman should endeavor to get show results so as to not penalize good faith entrants. However, the sponsoring club that fails to meet these obligations will be required to advertise their next show as “Probationally Sanctioned” in all official AKA publications and announcements. If the sponsoring club fails to meet their show obligations under “Probationally Sanctioned” status, their next event will not be sanctioned. To regain full “Sanctioned” status, the sponsors will need to host a “Probationally Sanctioned” or unsanctioned show and demonstrate an ability to fulfill the five obligations outlined in Article II.
ARTICLE III – QUALIFICATIONS
Regardless of point totals, to receive the KEY award, the following minimum requirements must be met:
1.The award candidate must be an AKA member in good standing.
2.The candidate must have had at least one first place in class in a sanctioned event during the current year.

ARTICLE IV – CLASSES AND POINTS
For purposes of this charter, ‘Entry Points’ will be defined as points awarded for entering pairs of fish in a sanctioned show, and, ‘Winning Points’ will be defined as points awarded on the basis of placement in competition.
1. The KEY Chair must sanction the Show and validate the classes.
2. To validate a class, it must have at least four entries scoring 70 or more points. To this end it is the sponsoring club’s responsibility, in an effort to help ensure that all entered pairs of fish have an opportunity to earn “Winning Points,” to do everything reasonable to make sure each class has at least four score-able entries. The sponsoring club should take into account class sizes from previous shows as well as class sizes in the current show and consolidate classes where necessary.
3. Entry points will be awarded to a participant for a maximum of three pairs per class.
4. Entry points will not be awarded for fish scoring fewer than 70 points.
5. Entry points may be accumulated for up to 40% of the total points for the KEY Award.
6. Auction points will be earned by auctioning a pair of fish that has placed in class. Auction Points
will be applied toward ‘Winning Points” total.
7. All points earned by an entry are cumulative for a single show (i.e. an entry can earn entry
points, points for placing in class, points for Best of Show, and finally points for being auctioned)

The number of points received will be as follows:

ARTICLE V – RECIPIENT AWARD
The Killifish Exhibitor of the year will receive publicity in the AKA Business Newsletter and other publications; a trophy or plaque; and the right to use the KEY designation in the Fish & Egg Listings for the next year.
ARTICLE VI – KEY CHAIRMAN
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the AKA will appoint, with BOT approval, the Chairman of the Killifish Exhibitor of the Year Award Program. The KEY Chairman will be responsible for the administration of this program by receiving and processing show results in a timely fashion and by keeping neat and business-like records of accumulated points. Results of KEY points should be published in the BNL at least 4 times per year and be available and updated on the AKA website.

ARTICLE VII – AMENDMENTS
Amendments to this charter must be approved by a vote of the BOT in accordance with the AKA Charter and By-Laws.