@Bennet
-Not taking any kind of stand cuz I have no strong feelings either way but when I first saw winner list I did find it a little taboo to see the winner was the one throwing the contest. You just dont see that too often. First rule of most contest is that affiliates and sponsers can not participate. But with that being said if I could have voted it would have been my #2 for sure. I was definitely envious when I eyeballed it several times over. So long as the voting was set up fairly I dont have any issues and dont think winnings should be forfeited, they were deserved. And I wanna go ahead and throw in my thanks and kudos for setting it all up
I've been running the contest for 5 years now(I think?) and have never won, nor have I had anyone have an issue with me entering. While I do understand the concern, and share it in the way of what the sponsors might think, I've done everything possible to make this event as fair as possible. Anonymous entries, public voting, and voting on this site so that there can be no fraud with an external polling site and IP-blocking software.
I've certainly lost a little sleep over it --- on one hand, if I weren't running the contest, I'd be over the moon with excitement over the win. BUT, I also fear that people would think I rigged the results, or worse, that the sponsors may think that I convinced them to bevy up a plethora of prizes only to pad my own pockets.
In the end, I'll likely just take a pair of the DISCover shoes and a couple prizes as opposed to what anyone else who placed first would be recieving.
I'm surprised by "crows" winning since I figured it was just a stencil dip with some shading. I'm not easily impressed by stencils unless they are hand cut.
I like the idea of Pro/Am or hand cut/painted vs plotter categories in the future.
I know I used to create dyes that were just as good with hand-cutting as I can with the plotter, and I'm sure I could've done this design by hand. Instead I save myself a few hours time and from even more carpel tunnel, and can still throw the next day. Dyers know that even with a plotter-cut, there is still a MOUNTAIN of work to be done. Cutting is just the beginning!
Congrats Bennett, great contest, great disc, and a well deserved win for you! Kudos to all who entered, I don't know how but every year the competition is better and better.
I looked back through the other years, and had so many fond memories return of first seeing so many dyes(BBB - Reaper Waiting Room, DanHoward -- October trees, DTP -- Drawn in Blood), so many new entrants(Rob Edwards bursting on the scene stands out), and just how the contest has grown, and how many people have entered at least one entry over the last few years, and how many new faces we see every year.
I'm so very proud of how Okthrowberfest has grown, and the artists themselves who challenge their abilities every year to give us their best to give ALL of us a great many entries worth staring for hours at!
