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Teddy Bear ReviewHi everyone!
Make sure to get your Golden Teddy Award entries in soon--the deadline is fast-approaching!
One lucky entrant will win a FREE ad! And as a special bonus this year, everyone who enters will get 50% off of their next digital ad. 
So go to www.dollandteddyexpo.com/awards/golden-teddies.html to read the rules/regulations and submit your entry today!
Jessica Franchuk
Editor, Teddy Bear Review
www.teddybearreview.com
www.dollandteddyexpo.com
With just hours to spare, I entered!! Last minute Lucy here. 
I have to say, it was the simplest process. A fill out page and a payment page and done! Now I just cross my fingers and hope for the best. Thank you for making it so easy!!
Warmest bear hugs, :hug:
Aleta
I had thought about entering but I was disappointed to see that there is still only one category for "other" animals and I know there must be a huge amount of entries to this one category. Times have changed and there are many artists creating animals other than teddy bears. I think this is the first year I haven't entered the Golden's. I wish everyone who has entered the best of luck!
Karen
Little Bear GuyWell I guess it was poor planning on our part, just not enough time with shows and orders and and Christmas in the middle of it. I thought we might of had time but when we saw how short of notice there was to enter we knew there was no way we could get something done, 10 days was no where enough time to get something done.
Best of luck to all that entered.
hugs
Shane
Wazza Bears AustraliaI entered at the last minute too... with a bear I have already sold.... missed the tobys... goodluck everyone who entered xox
Phew!! managed to get my entries in with minutes to spare - nothing like cutting it fine - really like the online submit form worked really well and so easy
fingers crossed
Katherine x
mjbearsnever entered before but decided to submit a entry so fingers crossed xxxxx
Karen, I sympathise! We've had a fascinating discusson on the Guild of Master Bearcrafters recently, and the overriding opinion is that we'd love to see the major competitions re-vamp their categories, as things have moved so far in terms of bear design over the past decade and this has yet to be reflected in most competitions.
I think it would be great if the competition organisers could consider working their categories in line with the wonderful range of bears (and cats/rabbits/elephants/other creatures 
!) being created today. For example, in particular I would love to see an entirely separate category to honour classic teddy bear design, rather than having all styles of bear categorised in terms of 'dressed/undressed' and their size.
Individual categories for classic teddy style, vintage style, contemporary design, realistic bears, bears created from non-traditional materials, etc., would be most welcome and might even encourage more bear artists to participate at competition level within their own 'genre'.
The Sage FoxGlad to hear I wasn't the only one submitting at the last minute! LOL I think I got my last entry in 1/2 hr before midnight! I was taking pics all day and just wasn't happy with the outcome...the great pics weren't of the entire scene or just the face, so I couldn't use them....so I just crossed my fingers and picked the best of the bunch and now we'll just wait and see 
Sagefox, Next time you have that photo problem remember you can crop a photo to get the head shot. I use Photoshop but even simple photo applications can do this. Then you can enlarge the cropped photo to the proper size. Just be sure to scan it at a higher dpi.
Karen
Teddy Bear ReviewKaren and Paula--you both mentioned a need to change the Golden Teddy categories. Should we do away with the dressed/undressed/sizes and instead go for style-based categories? I am very interested to hear what changes should be made. What does everyone else think?
Jessica
Little Bear GuyHi Jessica,
One thing I would really like to see in the US competitions is a Master class category. I know with the Golden George (I think it's that one someone can correct me if I am wrong). They have a class for master artist, this is someone who has won three or more Golden Georges. This way other artist are not competing against someone who has already won numerous awards already you are putting those artist head to head with one another. I think this would open up the categories to more artist, I know a few artist who have said you always see the same people nominated yr after yr. I don't know exactly how the master class category works in Germany but perhaps someone could explain it better. It's just a suggestions, and is there really a need to have categories for manufactured bears? (just asking )
big hugs
Shane
Bears by EdieJessica, I think it might be a good idea if you started a new thread for this topic titled something like "suggestions wanted for changes to Golden Teddy categories" - I think a lot of people will not see your request when it is under "Have you submitted your Golden Teddy Award entries" and we all know that is past. Not sure what made me click on the topic actually -
I'll think about suggestions and see what I come with.
puca bearsThe most comprehensive comp, category-wise that I know of it the Ted Worldwide - they include categories for "classic" and "contemporary", mixed materials and even "naturalistic". And they have three levels of entry - Hobbyist - bear makers who have been doing it for less than 3 years; Artist - and after two nominations in this level you automatically go up to Master. This does make for a huge competition - 33 categories in all, plus the Public Choice Award (or "The Public's Price" - which always amuses me!)
The Golden George has two levels - you start off in the Premium Class and if you are lucky enough to win a G.G. you automatically move up into the Master Class. There are 8 categories in each class, plus the Tableau which all can enter, and of course, there is the Public Choice.
Having the different levels really does open up the competition, and I think that having a "beginners " class or category (as in the BBAAs) is a great encouragement for newbies to have a go.
Incidentally, in both of these competitions, the manufactured bears go in the Master Class.
My two cents worth, from Germany........
huggies
Maria
Hi Jessica,
I think it would be great if competition categories relating to artist bears in general, could be reviewed in light of the breadth of styles we are now seeing.
Since running the Guild of Master Bearcrafters for the past year, I have seen the majority of bear artists' work falling quite neatly into 'genre' categories. We currently have over three thousand photographs of artist bears created by almost three hundred bear makers represented on the Guild and they are represented in Guild albums as follows:
Classic
Contemporary
Realistic
Vintage style
Elephants
Rabbits
Other Creatures
I think it would also be appropriate to retain a miniatures and vignette category in any competition.
From the work I have seen created on the Guild, the largest category is contemporary bears - this covers all work in a contemporary style, ie., from sculpted toes, to needlefelted faces, to applied eyelids, open/shut eyes, modern forms of design including bent knee bears, armatured bears etc. As far as I can see, there are many more contemporary bears being created these days and this could mean that classic styled bears, vintage style or 'careworn' bears and realistic bears for example, all skilled areas of bear crafting, become swamped in the bigger picture.
On a personal level, I am particularly concerned about creating competition opportunities to encourage bear artists to create quality classic bears. To create a beautiful classic teddy bear takes a great deal of skill and after all, this style of bear is where teddy bear design is rooted, so it is my belief classic bears especially should be entitled to a 'stand alone' category. This topic was discussed in detail by Guild members recently and the classic bear's status in the current bear world was firmly supported.
Generally it was felt by Guild members that bear crafting has evolved considerably over the past couple of decades and that some competitions may benefit from a review in light of these changes as the old 'bears undressed over' and 'bears dressed under' type of categories are perhaps no longer representative of the breadth of creativity taking place and as such, may limit entries.
I also think the idea of a Masters category for past winners is a good one by the way! It's quite expensive to enter the competitions each year and many newer artists are daunted by competing against very regular winners, so either a Masters category, or perhaps a Novice category, may help overcome a shy reluctance to participate! 
Teddy Bear ReviewWow--there are a lot of great ideas here! I will speak with the magazine's publisher about them. Until then, I'm going to follow Edie's advice and start a new thread on this so others can put there ideas into the pot. Don't worry, I've copied/pasted the ideas here into a Word document so they won't be lost. Thanks!
Jessica
