General Rules

Alabama BBQ Association (ABA) members do not need to be based out of the state of Alabama.

Every ABA member-team at a contest will be eligible to receive ABA “Points Chase” points. These points will be awarded from First place to Tenth place. All teams are required to be a member of ABA in good standing as of the contest date to be eligible to earn for “Points Chase” points. Good standing means having a paid membership and an assigned ABA Member Number. Membership applications are submitted through the Join page on the ABA website. An ABA Number will be assigned to each team upon receipt of their Membership Application and dues.

​

Contest eligibility and team classification rules are governed by the recognized sanctioning body.

​

Because of the limited staff of the ABA, we operate on an “honor system.” It is requested that organizers, teams, and judges display the utmost character because the ABA staff are unable to police every transaction.

Scoring

Contest scoring rules are governed by the recognized sanctioning body.

​

The only scores to be submitted to the ABA for Team of the Year “Points Chase” points are the category standing of the team for recognized sanctioning bodies' contests hosted in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, First place through Tenth place. The categories are limited to steak, chicken, pork ribs, pork butt or shoulder, brisket, ancillary, kids q, and kids q jr.

A tenth-place finish is worth one point, with point values increasing for higher placement; a first-place finish is worth ten points. Select contests (indicated on the events page) receive an accelerated value of points x1.5. ABA staff will pull contest results for KCBS and SCA.  If other recognized sanctioning bodies’ contest results cannot be pulled from a publicly available website, the team must submit scores within 2 weeks after the contest or there is no guarantee the scores will be included on the ABA website.

The “Team of the Year” score will be based on the team’s best five ABA Cook Trail points earned during the calendar year added together. At least two of a team's five best contest results in a category must be competed in Alabama. At year end, if teams' category scores are tied, the teams' next best earned Trail Points (until the tie is broken) will determine the final ranking.

Judging

Contest judging rules are governed by the recognized sanctioning body.

Additional Requirements

Contest sanctioning rules are governed by the recognized sanctioning body.

​

The purpose of the ABA is to promote outdoor cooking in the state of Alabama and our neighboring states. Additional teams want to participate in events that are part of the ABA network and are willing to travel to do this. With complete information, ABA can let teams know about events and provide better promotion. We advertise events throughout the state and in neighboring states to help promote events and get more teams to compete and more people to attend. By having all the contact information in place, we can grow the ABA.