The original membership of the Guild consisted of forty-six founder members; the admission of additional members has been carried out mainly by means of Selection Weekends held at a week-end each year for the purpose of instructing and testing candidates for membership in the nature and method of adjudication.

All candidates for membership are required to have professional or amateur stage experience (preferably both) and to possess a thorough knowledge of drama. A report upon each candidate is made to the Council of the Guild by an Approved Board on which there is at least one person who is not an adjudicator. New members are normally admitted as associate members for a period of two years during which time they will be advised by a Mentor. They may be admitted to full membership after they have adjudicated no fewer than six Festivals during that time or subsequently. Their admission will be at the discretion of the Council and based upon confidential reports from two Festival Organisers by whom the Associate Member has been employed and an appraisal by a full member of the Guild. The responsibilities of associate members are the same as those of full members.

All members and associates are bound to observe certain minimum conditions of engagement. As the Guild is not an agency, negotiations for engagements must be made direct with the adjudicator, but the Guild will provide information and assistance to festival organisers.

All members of the Guild are bound to abide by the rules of any festival at which they undertake to adjudicate, and disciplinary action may be taken by the Council against any member who fails to do so. More than eighty per cent of members of the Guild have had professional stage experience as actors, directors, or stage managers, and some are still engaged in the professional theatre, among whom are highly distinguished members of the profession. All have experience of the amateur stage and of the conditions under which amateur plays are performed and are interested in the furtherance of amateur drama. Many are engaged in some form of teaching the technique of the stage, voice production, etc. The ability to impart instruction is regarded as a necessary qualification for membership of the Guild, as well as sound judgement.

Persons with knowledge of the stage and of drama, especially those who have had some experience of adjudication, are invited to apply for membership.

Most members of the Guild are willing to adjudicate at verse-speaking festivals and to lecture on drama and various aspects of theatrical art. Members are also available for engagements as producers of plays, operas and musicals.

Most members are available and willing to accept engagement anywhere in the UK or abroad, in addition to their home district.

In the event of an adjudicator being required to cancel at short notice owing to illness or for any other cause the services of the Guild are available.

The Guild is always ready to discuss any problems with festival organisers and to give them any advice or assistance in its power.

For the Directory to be of maximum value to Festival Organisers they are advised to attend as many Festivals and to hear as many adjudicators as possible. Printed copies of the Directory are available from the Secretary.