When my daughter was in 4-H, I went with her to one of the leader's houses one Saturday for her demonstration of canning for fair. She won ribbons with her canning, cooking and sewing entries every year. In fact, she considered it part of her household budget. She was serious. So, in addition to all the hints mentioned, I remember that she had a ruler and she measured every vegetable that went into her jars. The green beans were all exactly the same length. She canned a lot of green beans, but her fair batch was all measured to a fraction of an inch. Fair is serious business. My daughter is a grandmother now. But, I doubt things have changed.
Before now I would just read the judges comments on my jars and others to see what was the like and dislike. I even kept the comment cards to read over this year when I pick out my entries.
Colorado has mostly very alkaline soils, so growing here is pretty much out of the question without pretty much growing them in buried bales of peat. Plus, I've never ever tasted a "domestic" blueberry that had the good taste of the little wild ones. We also had lots of wild raspberries, and the same could be said for them. Fortunately they will grow here in Colorado, and we have a u-pick farm quite close to us for those and for strawberries. We have a patch of strawberries that are doing well out in the yard, but they don't really produce enough for much of anything but the occasional snack. 
oooooooooh 
