I am newbie, but maybe you can go to betta comps, and look at the winning fishes, and compared with those that are not winners. because if im not wrong, hm/cts/hmpk/giants have different sets of judging criteria, even in individual classes, also have different criterias to look out for.
it's easier to explain on actual instead of typing it out on the forum to read because it might be hard to visualize.
there is one coming up in august, maybe you can go down and take a look