VCC - the FB Norwegian Forest Cat club

Norwegian Forest Cat female kitten, Zygot's Mayenne is presented to the judge for Nomination.

Felis Britannica is a member of FIFe, the Fédération Internationale Féline, an international organisation bringing together 40 members from around the world, in Europe, the Americas and Asia. When you enter your cat into a FIFe show, it will be judged within a format that is common throughout all these countries, and by the same judges and may have been judging as far a field as Sweden, Malaysia or Argentina the previous week. This provides a unique environment within the UK to have your cat judged in relation to other cats the judge has encountered throughout the world.

During the course of the show day, your cat is likely to compete for a number of awards. In order to follow what is going on as the day develops, it is important to understand the format and how progress is achieved. To begin with, competition is divided into 4 categories - Longhairs, Semi-longhairs, Shorthair and Siamese & Oriental. The Norwegian Forest Cat (NFO) competes in the Semi-longhair category, alongside the Main Coon (MCO), Siberian Forest Cat (SIB), Sacred Birman (SBI), Ragdoll (RAG), Turkish Van (TUV), Turkish Angora (TUA) and American Curl (AMS/AML). Each breed also has colour groups, which varies by breed.

Group	Name	Description	EMS codes included
1	non-Agouti	Black and blues	NFO n, a
2	non-Agouti with white	Black and blues with white	NFO n 09, a 09
3	Agouti	Black and blue tabbies	NFO n 21, n 22, n 23, n 24, n 25, a 21, a 22, a 23, a 24, a 25
4	Agouti with white	Black and blue tabbies with white	NFO n 09 21, n 09 22, n 09 23, n 09 24, n 09 25, a 09 21, a 09 22, a 09 23, a 09 24, a 09 25
5	Red, cream, torties Agouti & non-Agouti	Red, cream, torties, red tabbies, cream tabbies, tortie tabbies	NFO d, d 21, d 22, d 23, d 24, d 25, e, e 21, e 22, e 23, e 24, e 25, f, f 21, f 22, f 23, f 24, f 25, g, g 21, g 22, g 23, g 24, g 25
6	Red, cream, torties Agouti & non-Agouti with white	Red, cream, torties, red tabbies, cream tabbies, tortie tabbies with white	NFO d 09, d 09 21, d 09 22, d 09 23, d 09 24, d 09 25, e 09, e 09 21, e 09 22, e 09 23, e 09 24, e 09 25, f 09, f 09 21, f 09 22, f 09 23, f 09 24, f 09 25, g 09, g 09 21, g 09 22, g 09 23, g 09 24, g 09 25
7	Silver Agouti & non-Agouti	Black smoke, black silver tabbies, blue smokes, blue silver tabbies, silver torties, silver tortie tabbies	NFO ns, ns 21, ns 22, ns 23, ns 24, ns 25, as, as 21, as 22, as 23, as 24, as 25, fs, fs 21, fs 22, fs 23, fs 24, fs 25, gs, gs 21, gs 22, gs 23, gs 24, gs 25
8	Silver Agouti & non-Agouti with white	Black smoke, black silver tabbies, blue smokes, blue silver tabbies, silver torties, silver tortie tabbies with white	NFO ns 09, ns 09 21, ns 09 22, ns 09 23, ns 09 24, ns 09 25, as 09, as 09 21, as 09 22, as 09 23, as 09 24, as 09 25, fs 09, fs 09 21, fs 09 22, fs 09 23, fs 09 24, fs 09 25, gs 09, gs 09 21, gs 09 22, gs 09 23, gs 09 24, gs 09 25
9	White	Whites, all eye colours	w 61, w 62, w 63, w64

International judge Jörgen Frithiof assesses Norwegian Forest Cat male, Narya le Grand Feux d'Aures

Within each category, kittens, entire adults and neuters each compete within their own groups. The kittens are further divided into those that are 3 to 6 months old and those that are 6 to 10 months old, referred to as Juniors. Furthermore, each of these groups are divided into male and female.

Within these groups, the cats are placed in order of the judges assessment of each competitor against the breed's Standard of Points, so that the one assessed as best matching the standard is placed first, the next best second, and so on. In addition, each is given an absolute rating representing how closely they match the standard. The result is written as the rating abbreviation (1 or 2 letters) followed by a single number representing the placement e.g. VG2 which mean a 'Very Good' rating and second place in the competition. There are 3 ratings:

It is entirely possible for each competitor to be rated as 'Excellent', if they achieve the minimum 88 points required against the standard, but there can only ever be (and there must be at least ) one first place, or second place, etc.

In addition to the placement and rating, Adults and Neuters also compete for certificates. These certificates are the first steps towards titles. There are 4 levels of title within FIFe, each level being represented for both the Adults and Neuters. Once a particular title has been attained, the cat must move up to compete at the next level - only cats with the same title ever compete against each other for certificates.

Title (Adult/Neuter)	Certificate	Requirements
Champion / Premier	CAC/CAP	3 certificates from 3 different judges
International Champion / Premier	CACIB / CAPIB	5 certificates from 3 different judges
Grand International Champion / Premier	CAGCIB / CAGPIB	7 certificates from 5 different judges
European Champion / Premier	CACE / CAPE	10 certificates from 7 different judges

Once a cat has achieved the ultimate title of European Champion/Premier, they can then compete against others at the same level for a PoH (Prize of Honour).

Where there are at least 3 cats in a colour group, these compete for the award of Best in Variety (BIV). Kittens, Juniors, Adults and Neuters compete for separate BIVs if there are at least 3 cats in each. Cats of all titles and sex compete against each other for the BIV. If there are not enough kittens or juniors, they may be combined to compete for a single BIV and kittens, juniors and adults can also be combined if necessary. Neuters, however, can never be combined with any of the others.

After assessing all the cats in the Category (II for the NFO), the judge selects their overall best male adult, female adult, male neuter, female neuter, junior and kitten. These each go forward as the judges NOMINATION for the Best in Show (BIS) of each of these groups. For the nomination competition is against all breeds in the Category, in the case of the NFO they compete against the MCO, SIB, SBI, RAG, TUV and TUA. In order to achieve a nomination a cat must not only be better than the best in each of the other breed groups, but must also achieve a minimum of 97 points against the standard of points.

White Norwegian Forest Cat female, Skakmat Felis Jubatus, is presented to the audience after winning on the BIS panel.

At a typical show there will be a number of judges assessing cats in each of the categories. Since each of these judges will put nominations forward for BIS, these nominated cats have to be assessed by each of the judges in order to choose the cat which is best, and therefore the winner of BIS male adult, kitten, etc. This is called the Best in Show panel. Each judge's nomination is presented to all the judges that nominated a cat, and they vote on the best. The winner of this vote becomes Best in Show group winner.

Each BIS group winner then compete against the BIS winner from the other categories to choose the Best of the Best group winner. At a FIFe show only judges qualified for a particular category is allowed to judge that cats in that category, and therefore at least one Allbreed judge (i.e one qualified for ALL categories) is required to allow a Best of the Best to be selected. The final stage is to choose the ONE cat from the Best of the Best winners that is the overall Best of the Best show winner - a very great achievement.