The Australian Orchid Council Inc., formed in 1960, coordinates and administers a national judging system of orchids in this country.  The judging system is managed by the Registrar General of Judging, through a Deputy Registrar in each state or territory.  The Deputy Registrar, in turn, coordinates the panel or panels of nationally accredited judges within his/her state.  The panels are located throughout each state.  Queensland and New South Wales have a large number of orchid societies/clubs, and growers, hence have a greater number of judges and judging panels.

A number of judging methods have been employed over the years and standards have been, and continue to be, constantly reviewed to allow for new developments.  Since January 1999, all orchids are judged by general appreciation rather than the former regimented system of points for certain features of the bloom.  A panel of at least five fully accredited judges is required to make an award.  The panel then passes the application, photos etc on to the Australian Orchid Council's Registrar General via the state Deputy. Awards are now shown thus:  FCC/AOC (year).

The following are the AOC Award categories:

Each year, the various panels nominate their choice for the AOC Awards of the Year in three categories from those orchids awarded in the previous calendar year.  The categories are:

AOC Orchid Hybrid of the Year

AOC Species Orchid of the Year

AOC Award of Distinction of the Year

Copies of award slides of these are circulated to each panel for voting.  The finalists are published in Orchids Australia magazine in August.  The winners are announced at the Annual General Meeting of the AOC, usually in September or October. Winners of these awards since 1995 may be viewed on this site.