Please note: The originally posted write-up for this event has been modified to bring it into alignment with the developments of December 3rd, 2006. If you feel the need to review that first presentation, please click on this attachment. First set of rules.pdf. What follows is a rewrite even though it may look familiar at first blush. Andy Hoyt 12-3-06
Attention Fellow Creekers!
This post hereby makes it official. The SMC Holiday Turning Contest is underway!
After careful consideration of your posts in John Miliunas’ thread;along with a number of discussions and emails with him & Andy Hoyt the parameters for this event have been determined. Here goes.
LEVELING THE FIELD
We all readily agreed that we wanted this thing to be fun, uncomplicated, and orchestrated such that anyone and everyone would be inclined to enter. We also felt that it was necessary to level the playing field so that those with less turning experience would stand just as good a chance at earning recognition as those with more time at the lathe. How to do this? Well, we considered asking you to categorize yourself based on how long you’ve been turning. We also discussed basing it on lathe capacities. But neither of these felt right and also created far too many exceptions to the rule.
So we ended up creating three Contest Groups and those in each will only compete against others in that same group. This means that we’re actually running multiple contests.
Group Catch will consist of all those turners who have ever sold a turning; conducted a turning demo; mentored someone in turning; or taught a turning class.
Group Tear Out is comprised of all those who don’t fit into Group Catch
Group Launch is a special group and the only turner allowed in it is Travis Stinson.
JUDGING
Sorry – just kidding. Travis has actually agreed to act as one of our three judges. Two others, who are lurking in the shadows, will join him soon.
THE RECOGNITION
Our panel of judges will be awarding four prizes within each Group and they are:
Best in Group
Runner up in Group
Most Innovation in Group
Weirdest Dang Thing in Group.
THE TURNING
Based on recent experience we determined that the fewer rules the better. So….
The entries can be whatever the turner wants them to be. There are no limits as to size, form, finish, species, or state of wood. Nor are there any limitations on what tools can be used to create the piece. The entry can be a brand new turning fresh off the lathe, or even one that’s been collecting dust on a shelf for three years. Think of it this way – This thing just became a free for all! Multiple entries by an individual are heartily encouraged.
All entries should be posted in this thread.
The deadline for entries is 6PM (Pacific Time) on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007. That's 9 PM Eastern Time for you right coasters - I know how the math can be tough!
THE SILENT AUCTION
Huh? What’s that he said? Yes, you heard it right. We’re going to have an SMC Auction. In the thread that John Miliunas posted earlier it was quite clear that you folks wanted to do something special with this event. Various charitable (and worthy) organizations were suggested and there are many more, of course. And in this thread, you determined that Saint Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital should be our beneficiary.
Here’s how the auction will work. All entries are to be submitted in this thread. We suggest you do so in the same manner as if you were starting your own thread for the same purpose. Then, contact John Miliunas, Andy Hoyt, or myself to alert us to the presence of your entry and we’ll ensure that it is copied into the Holiday Contest Viewing Thread – which is locked to keep it from getting jammed with extra posts which we’re doing as a courtesy to the judges. It’s also locked so that no one inadvertently bids on an item in public.
Should you wish to bid on an item, you can do so sending a private message to John Miliunas, Andy Hoyt, or myself stating which item you’re bidding on and your bid amount. As bids come in the locked thread will be briefly opened so that a status report can be made on the bidding. (e.g. We’ll say something like: Item 12 has a current high bid of $12,654). This will only be done once John, Andy, and I have reconciled our PMs.
At 6 PM (East Coast Time) on Sunday, February 11th all bidding will be closed and the contest prizewinners will be announced. At the same time, we’ll be privately contacting winning bidders and ask them to open up their checkbooks or PayPal accounts and get the money rolling. Lars Thomas has agreed to serve as our Collection Agent for checks, cash, and PayPals. His contact information will be made available at the appropriate time.
When that money arrives we'll be privately informing turners with respect to where to send their piece and what the winning bid value ended up to be. We feel they have a right to that information; but publicly, we’ll only announce how much money was raised in total.
We will not be announcing who the winning bidders were, out of courtesy to any need of privacy they may have. However, if they're so inclined to post a gloat - so be it. I know I will!
Shipping pieces from turner to winning bidder is a private arrangement and will be paid for per whatever agreement gets worked out between the sender and receiver. Neither the contest itself, those running it, nor SMC will be involved in these logistical considerations nor the cost associated with it.
There are no minimum bid levels for any piece in the contest. This is seen as being counterintuitive to the spirit of the contest; the generosity of the turner; and the right minded thinking of the bidder.
We chose this scenario for a number of reasons. Primarily, we wanted to make this as painless as possible for you and also out of consideration to our selected charity. It was thought that they would probably realize greater ultimate value from a monetary donation than one from various turned pieces arriving from all over the globe at various times on which they would then have to expend resources to convert them into usable funding.
Let's go have some fun!
Thanks, Scott Donley / John Miliunas / Andy Hoyt
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