As part of an initiative to improve UK gliding competitions the BGA Competition & Awards Committee identified the need to list the features of the ‘ideal’ competition.

The complete list could be considered an aspirational benchmark standard - but it is unrealistic that any competition could reach the ‘ideal’ standard in all respects. In many cases there are specific constraints such as budget, resource or infrastructure.

Instead the list is intended to allow competition organisers to make a gap analysis of their competition against this ‘ideal’ standard, and then by filtering out features that are impractical or unaffordable or irrelevant, identify and prioritise a few specific and achievable features for an improvement action plan. Any additional features should improve the competition, making it more enjoyable and popular, more accessible and interesting to the general public, and increase the potential for sponsorship.