Carving Design Contest

David Boone took home the coveted People's Choice Award in the 2008 contest.

I’m thrilled to report the Woodcarving Illustrated Best Carving Design Contest was a resounding success!

The carving contest originated with a collaboration between Woodcarving Illustrated and Woodcraft. Participants had to enter their carvings at Woodcraft store locations. While judging from actual carvings instead of photographs is the preferred method, it made it difficult, if not impossible, for some carvers to participate.

To encourage maximum participation from our readers, Woodcarving Illustrated decided to sponsor a contest based solely on photo submissions. It can be difficult to judge a carving based on photographs and the photography skills of the participant play a part in the success of the entry. However, the judges do strive to put the emphasis on the quality of the carving and the creativity of the woodcarver. The drawbacks of judging from photographs are balanced by the fact that this method of entry opens the contest up to everyone regardless of geographic location. And there is the added benefit that no carvings are damaged in transit.

Readers entered 114 pieces in the 2008 Santa Carving Contest. While this provided plenty of Santas for the judges to choose from, a higher volume of entries was anticipated. I gathered feedback from readers and brainstormed with coworkers on how to make the contest better in the future. This collaboration resulted in the Woodcarving Illustrated Best Carving Design Contest.

The revamped contest included categories for relief, realistic, caricature, chip carving, stylized, junior carvers, and of course, Santas. With 378 entries, it certainly seems that opening the contest up to other styles of carving was a hit with our readers. As expected, the caricature category was very popular. I was surprised to see the large number of entries in the realistic category, but even more surprising was the fact that only 36 Santa carvings were entered in the contest.

Competition in all of the categories was pretty stiff. There were some heated debates during the judging and the close results in the people’s choice voting indicates the online community also had a difficult time choosing a winner. Check out the holiday issue of Woodcarving Illustrated to see who won this year’s contest and be sure to check out future issues for details on the next contest!