Changes to the Carving Contest

Hyung Jun Young's flat-plane Santa (left) and David Boone's woodland Santa took home top honors in the 2008 Santa Carving Contest.

We received dozens of letters and more than 140 posts about the Santa contest on our online forum. It's wonderful to see that kind of involvement and it's encouraging to know that you feel passionately about the contest.

Judging carvings from photographs is not ideal, but it does open up the contest to folks who can't enter their work at shows. Our goal with the contest has always been to promote reader involvement and a sense of community.

Before publishing the results of the Santa carving contest, we had decided to hold the contest every other year instead of annually. After reviewing the responses we received in reference to that change, we have reconsidered and will be announcing a new expanded contest in the summer issue. While there will still be a category especially for Santas, we'll also have broader categories, such as realistic and chip carving. It's not too late to share your suggestions for categories or the contest in general.

This magazine belongs to you, the reader, and we rely on your feedback. A new feature in this issue, as suggested by a reader, is the format of the table of contents. Now you can view all the projects in the issue at a glance. You can also access our online index to find the article you are searching for. Click on "article index" in the lefthand column of the site. If you don't have Internet access, give us a call and we'll help you locate the specific article. We'll be working on the Website in the coming year and welcome any suggestions you have for content or how to make the site more user-friendly.

As we move into a new year full of opportunity and promise, we'd like to thank our readers. Without your passion and guidance, we never would have made it past the first year. As Ellen Glasgow said, "All change is not growth; all movement is not forward." I hope you'll take a few minutes to share your thoughts and suggestions so together we can grow WCI in the right direction.

Shannon Flowers