As you would be aware, one of AusBonsai's aims is to increase awareness and use of Australian Native plants as bonsai. To assist this endeavour we hold an annual event with the goal being to encourage and promote the use of our native flora as bonsai.
This year there are 3 categories, 10 awards and prizes will be given as follows:-
Category 1 -
Australian Native Bonsai Award1st - Professional Grade set of Japanese made bonsai tools in a suede tool roll ($350.00 RRP) and certificate
2nd - Janet Selby limited edition AusBonsai.com bonsai pot and certificate
3rd - 42 Mice hand made bonsai pot and certificate
By popular demand, Category 1 will also have a Peoples Choice award. The winner will be chosen by you, the members of AusBonsai. The recipient of this award will receive a Tiny Tiny Display Table by jozaeh, an accent pot by MattA of 42 Mice and a certificate. Voting for this award will take place between 1st June and 13th June 2011 and instructions for voting will be posted towards the end of May.
Category 2 -
New stock awards (Stock must be less than 12 months in training and isn't required to be in a bonsai pot)1st - Custom made for your bonsai, a one of a kind Janet Selby bonsai pot and certificate
2nd - Janet Selby limited edition AusBonsai.com bonsai pot and certificate
3rd - 42 Mice hand made accent pot and certificate
Category 3 -
Newcomer encouragement award (For bonsaists with less than 1 year experience)1st - Janet Selby limited edition AusBonsai.com bonsai pot and certificate
2nd - 42 Mice hand made accent pot and certificate
3rd - Certificate
Category 1 winners will feature in the AusBonsai.com header bar at the top of the forum over the coming year and will be showcased in an Australian Plants as Bonsai Study Group newsletter.
Last year's winner of category's 1 and 2, Pup will be one of the Judges therefore making him ineligible to enter. Joining Pup will be Lindsay Farr and Tony Bebb
Eligibility and requirements:
• The bonsai must be an Australian native
• The bonsai must be part of the submitting artists personal collection
• Trees entered last year are eligible for entry again however a new and updated picture must be submitted
How to submit your material:
• You may submit as many times as you like by posting a new topic in the special AusBonsai Australian Native Bonsai Awards 2011 forum
• For ease of viewing and judging, please use a PREFIX to specify the CATEGORY you are entering. Examples:
[Category 1] Casuarina cunninghamiana
[Category 2] Callistemon sp.- 11 months training
[Category 3] Melaleuca linariifolia
• Photographs must be of good quality, be a minimum of 500 x 500 pixels and in full colour
• Photographs are to be uploaded to AusBonsai and not linked from other sites
• A brief history of the bonsai should be submitted (max 450 words)
• Botanical and/or common name of tree, years of training, size (height and width), name of artist (may be your AusBonsai screen name) and state or territory of artist must be included
Review and Judging:
• Submissions will initially be reviewed by the Moderators of AusBonsai for compliance with the requirements
• Judging will be via an average point score and will be conducted by Lindsay Farr, Tony Bebb and Pup.
• Photography is not being judged however the best possible picture/s should be submitted. Review our section on photographing bonsai for tips. Last year there were several stunning trees submitted that did not score as well as they should have due to poor presentation.
• Point scoring will be based on the following criteria: -
1. Horticulture - 10%
2. Aesthetics - 30%
3. Design, image and presentation - 60%
Although you may not agree with the judge’s decision, the process will be fair, structured and the judges varied. Lindsay Farr from Victoria, Tony Bebb from Queensland and Pup from Western Australia. 3 experienced and accomplished artists with 3 different subjective opinions. As in all competitions, the judge’s decision is final and should be treated with respect.
A brief note on judging from one of last years Judges, Roger Hnatiuk.
Final date for submitting entries will be midnight on 31st May 2011. Results will be published on AusBonsai.com by 14th June 2011.Judging any form of art will always be a contentious issue and please keep in mind that trees, particularly Aussie natives, don't grow according to rigid rules. We are not saying that your tree must be styled like a native found in the bush. Judging is about looking at the composition as a whole and asking oneself if it is pleasing to look at. Then, why is it so (either pleasing or not pleasing). Then one can look to see whether there are apparent technical 'faults' and whether these make any difference to the enjoyment of the composition as a whole. If we used a strict format for judging we would always end up with the same winner and that is not art!
I'd be very grateful if you could assist by promoting the Australian Native Bonsai Awards to your Clubs, Schools, bonsai friends or on Facebook etc.
If you are able to arrange for a banner to be placed on any bonsai website, please right click the file below and save it to your computer. You can then forward it to webmasters and request them to place it on their respective sites with a link back to this topic.
Alternatively, the following file is an A4 sized posters that can be printed and placed on noticeboards or downloaded and emailed to friends.
Have fun, best of luck and thank you for considering a native for your next bonsai
Regards,
Steven
THE FINE PRINT:
Contest void where prohibited by law.
By submitting your entry, you agree to grant AusBonsai.com and the Australian Plants as Bonsai Study Group permission to publish and display your submitted picture/s and text.
Winners will be notified via publication in this forum on or before 7th April 2011.
Prizes will be posted worldwide upon receipt of postal address (by PM to Steven - no addresses will be made public)
I am impressed with the choice of judges it should be interesting 
Great excuse to get out the camera and brush on some photography skills, only got a few natives though 
nice to see some one is getting early, so that we all have time to look at and assess the trees. As I am not in this year 
