Skill Levels
Entrants to S4C competitions are assigned to different Skill Levels by the S4C Board according to their track record. The assigned Skill Level is by competition, that is, an entrant may have different Skill Levels for different competitions.
Skill Levels used by S4C are Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Masters (formerly known as E, A, AA, and AAA. The four Skill Levels are not necessarily used by all competitions.
Except for the Basic Skill Level, Skill Levels in individual competitions are assigned based on past performance by the Entrant in that particular Section or in a similar Section. New entrants (or Entrants who have not entered sufficient images in prior years for their skill to be properly evaluated) are normally assigned to the Basic Skill Level.
At the end of each competition year, the Board reviews each entrant's performance and decides whether that entrant should be advanced to a higher Skill Level in each Section, To be eligible for advancement, an entrant must have entered at least 6 images into that Section during the prior competition year. All eligible entrants at the Basic Skill Level are advanced to either Intermediate or Advanced. To move to a higher Skill Level from Skill Level Basic or Advanced, normally an entrant must have performed so that the average points per image scored by that entrant would meet or exceed the average points per image scored by all eligible entrants in the higher Skill Level in that Section in the prior competition year. No entrant will be triple jumped from the Basic Skill Level to the Masters Skill Level.
Board discretion may be used to make exceptions to this guideline.
Entrants who have been in Skill Level Advanced or Masters in a Section for at least one competition year may request prior to September 1 that they be moved to the next lower Skill Level for the following year provided that their average score for the previous year falls below the midpoint of the average scores of entrants in the lower skill level.
However, entrants who have been in Skill Level Advanced or Masters will automatically be moved to the lower skill level if: (a) there are at least 8 entrants in their current skill level; (b) they have entered at least 9 images in the previous year; (c) their average score for that year is one of the lowest two in their current skill level; and (d) their average score is lower than the midpoint of the average scores of the lower skill level.