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For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
For those interested in contests this year, Trina Laube-Oltman, the editor of TEDDY BEAR REVIEW, has graciously advised me that the entry forms for the 2006 Golden Teddy contest are now available online. The direct link is:
http://www.teddybearreview.com/teddybea … ntests.asp
If that doesn't work... go to the Jones Publishing website, home of TEDDY BEAR REVIEW, and find your way to "Contests." Click there, and you'll get a chance to download the entry form, which is three pages long, and in .pdf format, meaning you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it. That's free shareware, if you don't have it; just Google to find it and download from Adobe at your leisure.
Good luck!
Apple Dumpling DesignsThanks Shelli...but I think I'll wait until after a few more eye surgeries 
NOT!!!
Kiprie BearsShelli Thank you ! 
I would love to try this contest in this year or next year.....? :pray:
Everyone else are going to do this contest !?
Good luck to everyone and I hope some one from TT will
be nominate and win ! (as usual.....) he he :love::pray::teddybear:
Quy..thank you for extra smiles..:teddybear: this is cute♪
Bear Hugs/Marie
Upstate New YorkThanks Shelli. These photos then, should be taken with a 35mm camera vs. digital, correct?
OhioWhat are the grand prizes for the winners?
You can take photos with a digital camera but you CAN'T print them out on a typical at-home printer, which basically coats the printer paper with ink that is easily scratched off.
Simply burn your digital photos to disk, or use BEST BUY'S ImageLab software (free at or from Best Buy) and mail your digital pics in to Best Buy's photo processing center directly from your computer, and have them printed by a "real" photo lab. Then, they'll be acceptable for the contests. What the contests are trying to avoid receiving is poorly printed photos which will scratch during the print process.
Give yourself a little bit of time because there is often a difference between the colors on your monitor and the colors you'll get from a lab, so you may have to reprint your pictures.
The grand prize is multiple publication in a prestigious magazine (exposure, free advertising, marketing) and a gloriously beautiful engraved crystal award, plus the rare honor of being only one of a handful of people to achieve such a win.
Have fun!
Nova Scotia,CanadaCan you take your disk to the "photo printer machines they have at Walmart,grocery stores etc. where you pay so much per print to have them printed from your disk or memory card or will they also scratch off?
My kids did a photography project for 4-H and needed at least 40 pictures,it defiantly is more expensive through the machine but I thought they turned out nice.You can also edit and touch up color etc. but I would assume that is a no-no for contest pictures as we were not allowed to alter the picture in any way for this project so we simply had them printed as they were.Do you think I can use these machines?
Thanks for the help,Shari.
Past Time BearsCVS Pharmacy has the same deal as Best Buy . . . you can upload your digi photos to their photo processing partner (Kodak), who processes them, then delivers them to the CVS store of your choice to be printed. It only takes a day or two from sending them to Kodak to picking them up at CVS . . . or you can have them delivered right to your door! www.cvs.com On the right side of the main page, you will see CVS Stores - then click on "express digital photos".
Upstate New YorkWell Miss Shelli, that's about the coolest thing I've ever heard of (the Best Buy thing)! Thanks much! :clap:
Nova Scotia,CanadaOur machine proccesses the photos right away or within an hour.You pick them up right there from the machine.Would this be the same?There is a kodak machine and then another brand.
At our local drugstore, Walgreens, you can use the machine as you describe, Shari ... or you can submit your disk or files to their overnight print shop for printingm, which costs less than the one-hour or instant prints. There are so many ways to skin this cat (sorry kitty!) I think most photo processing centers now offer multiple ways for you to take your digital photos from file to printed outcome. Just ask around, wherever you are. Drug stores, and the obvious photo processing shops (we have one nearby but it's not a chain) are good places to start.
Well Miss Shelli, that's about the coolest thing I've ever heard of (the Best Buy thing)! Thanks much! :clap:
It IS cool. You can send your digital pix to the Best Buy photo lab from home and then, a day or two later, they will phone to let you know your prints are IN at the local store you have specified. I tried this out on a test basis and found the photos to be absolutely gorgeous. I will use thier lab for all my contest submission pics. Very easy, no drop off required!
CVS Pharmacy has the same deal as Best Buy . . . you can upload your digi photos to their photo processing partner (Kodak), who processes them, then delivers them to the CVS store of your choice to be printed.
Awesome! I don't know CVS Pharmacy but am sure many of our TEDDY TALK visitors do. Thanks, Sue Ann!
OhioIf you have a local WalMart store, you can process right online. Go to www.walmart.com and click the photo tab. Then you upload right from your flash card, hard drive or CD. Then you have the option for 1 hour photo, send out or send home! I do it all the time now. That way I don't have to stand in line waiting on the machine at the store.
Ooh, that's a new one to me, and very useful to know! Thanks!
Is a Golden Teddy a big deal for an artist to win? As a collector, I read the magazine and vote, but I was just curious if it's a big deal for the artists. What other contests are a big deal for artists?
Chrissie
Past Time BearsYes!!! At least for me it was! Also, the TOBY Award is a big deal as far as I'm concerned. It's thrilling to be nominated for either one, because the judges are experts from different areas of the bear industry, choosing from hundreds and hundreds of entries. And just to be nominated is a breathtaking moment for me. Then, if your piece is selected as the choice of the public vote, then . . . . well, it's a terrific feeling that defies description! For me, it's a huge honor and I appreciate the recognition SOOOOO much! Other countries have big competitions, also, but I've never entered any of them. Being chosen as the artist to make the Theodore Society Member's Bear for 2005 was also a cherished honor. Then the biggie was grand prize in the Steiff North American Design Contest! I still have a hard time believing that one. Just can't describe the joyous, incredulous moment when I got the news. I thought it to be a huge compliment on my bearmaking and can't think of enough adjectives to cover the gamut of overwhelming emotions that accompany such awards. I am humbled and so honored when any awards come my way . . . because I know that there are many, many, fantastic, stupendous, wonderful, and deserving artists out there that haven't won awards or who just haven't entered any competitions. Do it . . . you will love 
the way you feel when you win!!
I was floored to receive my nomination and am still slack-jawed -- in a proud, humbled, grateful, absolutely delighted way -- to receive my Golden Teddy win this year. It was, is, always will be, a HUGE deal for me, because I was competing against other artists I respect and admire enormously.
I don't feel my nomination or win belittles them or their work in any way, but rather, gives me the confidence to believe I am a peer among them, which I didn't have before. To be told, "You fit here!", when "here" is a grouping of people with talent, originality, dedication, professionalism, and creativity galore, is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful honor, and a giddy moment, indeed. I don't have enough "wonderful"'s to state the feeling accurately.
I agree with Sue Ann that the TOBY contest is an equal and similar honor; simply sponsored by a different magazine.
Some other big competitoins world wide include THE GOLDEN GEORGE, TED WORLDWIDE, THE ACE AWARD, and THE TITA AWARD. I don't know as much about these as I'd like but I can tell you the first two are German (associated with either magazines or shows in that country) and the ACE is Canadian (associated with Canadian Teddy Bear News and Nancy Tillberg) and the TITA, Japanese.
Some of these contests are photo competitions, meaning you submit best photos of best work and are judged from there. Some, like the Golden Teddy and Toby, start out with nominations from an industry expert panel and then winners are selected by the readership/public.
Others require photos for the nomination process but then require mail-in of your nominated work, for in-person examination and voting by an expert panel, or attendees at a show. It just all depends on the venue and the particular contest.
I think all bear makers -- craft persons of any kind -- really feel excited and honored when their pieces receive public approval and notice of this kind.
I know that, for me, as an American bearmaker, the GOLDEN TEDDY and TOBY -- sponsored by our US magazines -- are the benchmark contests for which I aim. I hope to expand my entries this year to other contests but am already behind on submissions.
I want to add that BEARS & BUDS webzine (www.bearsandbuds.com) just added a brand new contest which is an entirely new take on soft sculpture competition, with new ideas about category divisions that give ALL soft sculpture entries more of an equal footing (thread bears, traditional bears, whimsical bears, and critters, too!) I really encourage you to check it out. It's on the calendar for September (I think I put it on the 29th or 30th, that entry forms are available now.) VERY LOW COST entry fee, which covers up to three entries. I'm giving it my encouragement and support!
Fun question, Chrissie; thanks for asking!
Thanks Shelli... I have been talking about doing this for a while now but the cost of entrance once you convert it back to NZ$ has always put me off - that and fears that my bears aren't good enough!!! However our dollar has improved a lot and I have a project in mind (which I was meant to start this weekend - HA!).
My friend Alexis entered the TOBY's this year and was nominated in the mini section. It's so exciting but boy does it take a long time to find out!! Is it next month that they are announced? If she gets nominated again we are seriously thinking about saving hard (really hard) and coming to the States next year or the year after for the big show...as it is it's going to be a nervous few days after the show this year before she finds out the results.
better go start planning that bear!!!
btw...congratulations to you and Sue Ann - your bears have both done so well and are so stunning so the awards are richly deserved!!
Baird'sBears
Silly Sue and and Silly Shelli,
You've got to be the only two people in the world surprised that your work has been so honored!! :hug:
Eileen
LuxembearsWell I have tp say that I too fell off my chair when Rebekah Kauffman from STEIFF called me to inform me that I had wone First PLace in the Steiff North American Bear design contest. It is an unbeliveable indescribable feeling. There were over 300 judges.
Same for the Golden Teddy Nomination this year. And the ACE Awards! It is an amazing feeling and it makes me want to push the envelope to see what I can do. It is also a HUGE motivator.
Like Shelli and Sue Ann have said. It is a HUGE HUGE honor. Especally whne ther eare so many greta artists out there.
Just Us BearsJust a note on printing photos. It may well be different in other countries, but here in Australia, the cheap prints we can do ourselves through the whizz bang machines at K-Mart and Big W (which I assume are on a similar level to Walmart) are printed on inferior quality paper. It IS kodak brand...but it is much thinner than the paper they use at proper photo shops. I have a friend who works at a photographic place, and she says that they are fine just for every day snaps but if you want a superior quality image that will last...you should get it done through a photo shop. I personally use the K-Mart machine to print out what I call 'proofs' cos they are so cheap...and I choose the best ones and get the photos and enlargements done at the photoshop.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks for sharing your stories. I guess it is a big deal for artists to win these awards. Congrats on winning your awards! :clap:
