Results of the Fall 2005 AAW Forum goblet contest

[Jeff Jilg]

Congratulations to the winners of the Fall 2005 goblet contest

1st Brian Rosencrantz
2nd Pascal Oudet
3rd Ed Kelle


Our original judge was out of the country. We were fortunate enough to find another world class turner to judge the contest - Trent Bosch.

Trent's comments on the contest:
The quality of the pieces was overall pretty good and I would like to congratulate everyone for there efforts. I am interested in nontraditional approaches to traditional objects so that was the main criteria I looked for in the judging of these pieces. There are lots of people that can turn a great goblet but taking it further is to me more satisfying.

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The winners will be announced on the AAW homepage and in the Winter AW Fall Journal. Thanks to everyone who submitted entries.

[Jim Ketron]

Everyone done a great job!
And congrats to the winners!
But IMO
From a non contestant view I see it unfair to have just one judge to determine the winner!
Everyone has their own style of turning that they like and some pieces might not fit that criteria, as he stated in his comments, so is that fair to the more traditional style of turning?
Or maybe the judge likes a more traditional style and not the nontraditional style. Would that be fair?
If this was a nontraditional judging then the contest should have stated “lets see your nontraditional goblets” contest.
I think a panel of judges should be used. Or do like the first contest and have a poll feature to determine the winner by the members here!
Jim

[Jeff Jilg]

The poll feature and voting will not be used.

All judges have their bias and Trent was nice enough to share his thoughts on the process he used. Our original judge would have used a different process. Frankly I am very happy that Trent volunteered to judge the contest when he was asked at the last minute. Our original judge is out of the country. I doubt there is every any contest or exhibition where everyone is happy with the process or the results.

A panel may or may not be a better alternative. Panels can have results which folks disagree with as well.

[john lucas]

Personally, I entered the contest and as I was going through the goblets I picked the exact same ones the judge did. Not exactly in that order but I thought these 3 showed imagination and originality.

[JimQ]

I looked through all the entries, and after totally discounting my own, I figured first and second the same, but was totally up in the air over third.

To all of the entrants, Good job, your work serves as an inspiration to all of us.

JimQ

[Mort]

I will add my congratulations to the winners. Very original work and the direction the craft is taking. I will look forward to read the "how I did that that" the winner will be posting. Let's hope the mantra of 'First in show and it still didn't sell' is not operative here.

[Ed Kelle]

I gotta say, I am shocked and honored with third. I was amazed at all the incredible works that were entered. I almost didn't enter when I saw the rest, so I am glad I gave it a go.

I sure hope we get many more entries in future contests, it is great to see all the great works being done.

Thanks to Jeff for putting this contest together.

[John Trant]

Originally Posted by Jim Ketron

... But IMO
From a non contestant view I see it unfair to have just one judge to determine the winner! ... I think a panel of judges should be used. ...
Jim

Hi Jim,
I think it could be nearly impossible to have a truly functional panel discussion of their perceptions and votes via email. I have organized a number of photography contests and have noted that the time and intensity of discussions that are required to decide upon the top photos and eventually the ranking are extensive. Alternatively, and more condusive to electronic judging, is to simply have 3 or more judges rank the entries numerically, add the scores, verify that the judges agree with the results determined mathamatically, make appropriate changes (this is where it could get ugly), and post the winners.

Having said all of this, I think for the present informal contest with so few entries, a single judge (yes, burdened by all of his preferences, prejudices, and proclivities) is appropriate and the results are sufficiently valid. Would a different judge (or panel of judges) provided a different set of winners? Maybe. As John Lucas mentioned, I would creating a very different goblets for Bosch, Houslak, Drozda, Ellsworth or any other professional. I guess if the contestants are unhappy, they can ask for a refund of their entry fee.

John

[S. Clark]

I'd just like to say THANKS for the opportunity to participate and share in the fun. I think this type of contest is great because it obviuosly encourges people to try some turning that they wouldn't have necessarily attempted. After all, isn't expanding woodturning awareness and education the primary goal of the AAW?

I think there was a great set of entries and am surprised that there weren't more. I get great ideas by viewing what others have done. Many times I see concepts that never would have occurred to me. I find this very educational.

For the contest I turned my first goblet ever. I would have to say I won by finding an opportunity to turn something new that I had avoided before now. My entry was simple and certainly lacked what Trent was looking for. While I sat here reading his comments I first felt cheated by not knowing up front what the criteria was. Did it really following the article in the AAW magazine? I don't think so. In fact my goblet may not be considered following the article. Many contestants took an artistic license with their turning and I was able to see their own expressions of a goblet. Trent looked for entries that looked outside of a traditional goblet. So instead of requesting more specific rules to the contest I will jump out of the box and try to be more creative with my entries. Maybe the rules should be to turn a goblet with the understanding of it being wide open as far as design. Don't even mention that it should be “in line” with the feature story. Maybe “in line” is just the wrong choice of words. Regardless win or not I will continue to enjoy submitting my entries and seeing everyone else’s.
mkart