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wazzabears Dec 22, 2007

Hello All
And Merry Christmas.
I have a question to ask those artists who enter the awards.
How many bears do you send in for one section? Do you send in 2 or 3 bear for the same section and hope one of them get picked or do you just send in 1?
Cheers

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorDec 22, 2007

I love the competitions but for purely stress-reducing reasons I'm not entering any this year.  I've entered both the TOBY and the GT the past four years in a row, though, and my strategy was to enter more than one piece (in those years it was possible to do so) across several categories, so I wasn't paying entry fees simply to compete against myself.  That's because you can only have one nomination per category, in most contests.  I think that's true for both the TOBY and GT -- although I haven't read the rules for this year's contests, I admit.

If I had several pieces made that might fit a single category, and I felt they were all strong contenders, though, I'd certainly consider entering more than one piece per category, just to increase my odds.  You only get to do this once a year, after all; why not maximize your chances?  For me, though, it's usually been pretty easy to decide whether I have "contest worthy" pieces at all, and then to choose which of those might fit a given category best.  And there's usually just been the one piece that worked.

I do know several artists personally who've entered the same piece across several contests and that piece gets nominated in one contest, and skipped over in another.  So Ellen's point about how a given bear might appeal to one judge, but not another, is a good one, and a good argument for "covering your bases."

Hope this helps a little.