Fort Morgan Oyster Fest Shucking Rules

1. Each shucker is responsible for bringing his/her own shucking block, gloves, and knives.
2. Shuckers may wear finger stalls or gloves, use their own knives, and may also carry an extra knife for use in case the first breaks.
3. Each shucking station is identified by a conspicuously positioned number.
4. Contestants select all oysters for use from provided boxes and place them in their numbered container.  Contestants will shuck EIGHTEEN (18) oysters.
5. The shucker removes their 18 oysters from his/her container and arranges them for shucking.
6. Each shucker will have a separate timekeeper.
7. The shucker will poise his/her knife at head height to indicate readiness.
8. At a signal by the Chief Judge, previously demonstrated by him, simultaneously all timekeepers start their stopwatches and shuckers begin shucking.
9. Contestants place each oyster on an unbroken half-shell and arrange all neatly on the coded tray provided.  Oysters should be whole, uncut, and free from debris.
10. When a contestant has completed shucking and has arranged the oysters to his/her satisfaction, he/she will raise both hands overhead and step back from the shucking table.  The timekeeper will stop his/her watch immediately.  A shucker may not touch the tray of oysters after he/she has signaled completion.
11. Timekeepers will deliver the coded trays to the judges’ tables in such a manner that the judges will not be aware of whose tray they are judging.
12. PENALTIES:
    A. An oyster not completely severed from its shell: ADD  3 seconds per oyster
    B. An oyster presented on a broken shell: ADD  1 second per oyster
    C. An oyster presented with grit or other foreign substance on the flesh: ADD  3 seconds per oyster
    D. An oyster cut: ADD  3 seconds per oyster
    E. An oyster not placed properly on the shell: ADD  2 seconds per oyster
    F. A missing oyster: ADD 20 seconds per oyster
13. Each timekeeper reports his/her shucking time (in seconds) to the Head Timekeeper.  Each Judge reports his/her Penalty Time to the head Timekeeper.  The Head Timekeeper dictates these to the Chief Clerk who records them for each shucker is then computed by the Chief Clerk and the Head Timekeeper and recorded on the sheet with other contest winners to be announced later.  The winner in each heat is that contestant who has the lowest total seconds (shucking and penalty seconds) and has not been disqualified by the judges for not complying with the rules.

ALL CONTESTANTS ENTER CONTEST AT THEIR OWN RISK.  THE FORT MORGAN OYSTER FESTIVAL, OFFICERS AND SPONSORS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURIES OR LOSSES.

ALL DECISIONS BY JUDGES ARE FINAL

*Rules and procedures are adopted from National Outdoor Show, Oyster Shucking Contest rules, Cambridge, Maryland.