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CENTRAL TEXAS BARBEQUE ASSOCIATION

INTRODUCTION

CTBA was formed to establish fair and equal guidelines for all competitive BBQ cooks who insist on well-run and organized barbeque cookoffs. The Central Texas Barbeque Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting barbeque - barbeque cooking, Bar-B-Que contest, B-B-Q eating, BBQ whatever - and having a good time while doing so. No matter how you spell "BARBEQUE" it is the hottest thing going. The CTBA was founded in 1992 with 10 members and grew to over 100 in less than a year.

The CTBA promotes barbeque by assisting civic and charitable organizations in conducting barbeque contests. For the contestants, the CTBA offers standardized rules and regulations, and the knowledge that the contest will be fairly judged. For the contest organizers, the CTBA offers free promotional listings in the CTBA newsletter, mailing lists, contest forms, checklists, a fair and equal judging system and an actual living, breathing head judge to help on the day of the event. Having officiated such contests, CTBA personnel lend a wealth of expertise in conducting these events.

To sanction a cook-off of 20 or less participating cooking teams CTBA charges a minimum of forty dollars. For cook-offs with greater than 20 teams the fee is two dollars a participating team. In addition the promoter should provide lodging and or gas to cover CTBA representative’s expenses.

When the CTBA sanctions a BBQ cook-off, we do not tell the promoters how to run their cook-off, we are only interested in helping with the judging.

CTBA has end-of-year awards for its members making them eligible for additional prize monies and trophies. "End-of-Year" awards are awarded to the top 15 cooking teams based on a cumulative point system. Cooking teams may begin accumulating points after at least one team member current year’s CTBA dues have been paid. Any one team can accumulate points towards the End-of-Year awards from only one CTBA sanctioned cook-off on any one day. Points awarded by placing in the top ten in brisket, chicken and pork rib categories will be added together and accumulated in an overall category. In addition a team will have ten points added for each CTBA sanctioned cook-off in which they participate. If any team member head judges a cook-off, and his team is not cooking, his team will be awarded ten points for his participation. Standings will be published in "Q" news in the June, September and November issue. The following criteria will be used to break ties in the end of year standings:

Most CTBA sanctioned cook-offs participated in,

Highest points in any one of the above,

Next highest points and so on,

Coin Flip.

CTBA coordinates "Quad Cities Tournaments" which awards prize money, in addition to a cook-off’s awards, to cookers, (CTBA members and non-members) who participate in the required number of cook-offs of a tournament. A tournament consists of a number of designated cook-offs within a specified time frame. Prize money is awarded to the top five places in brisket, pork ribs and chicken and to the first and second places overall. The following criteria will be used to break ties in quad-city competition:

For meat categories:

Highest points in the specific category in one of the qualifying cook-offs,

Next highest points and so on,

Coin Flip.

For overall:

Highest overall points in one of the qualifying cook-offs,

Next highest points and so on,

Coin Flip

CTBA has a membership meeting on the second Sunday, every other month, beginning in January. During the November meeting each year all officers, except for the president, are elected for the ensuing year. The president is elected only on even years for a two-year term of office.

These by-laws may be changed, except changes that may affect a promoter, by:

1. Proposing the change in any regular scheduled meeting of the year,

2. Notifying the members through "Q" news

3. In the next regular scheduled meeting approving them by a two-thirds majority of members present.

Any by-laws changes affecting promoters may only be made in the November meeting.

KEEPING MEMBERS INFORMED

The CTBA organization feels that it is their job to help keep members informed on upcoming events and winners of past events that have been sanctioned by CTBA. We also strive to include such BBQ events that may not be sanctioned or sanctioned by us for the benefit of our members. This information is generally distributed through our newsletter the "Q" news and all members are invited to submit information or news, which may be helpful to CTBA members.

The CTBA strives to network with other barbeque organizations across the United States and around the world such as:

The National BBQ Association

Kansas City Barbecue Society

Memphis in May

The Barbecue Industry Association

The International BBQ Cookers Association

The Lone Star Barbecue Society

The Pacific Northwest BBQ Association

The Texas Gulf Coast Barbecue Cookers Association

The National Pork Producers Council

Along with such publications as:

The National BBQ News, Douglas, GA