It is with great pleasure that I announce the 3rd annual Australian Native Bonsai Awards.
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 2 categories with 7 awards and prizes will be given as follows:-
Australian Native Bonsai Awards
1st - Carbon steel set of Japanese made bonsai tools in a suede tool roll ($250.00 RRP), A hand drawn sketch of your winning bonsai by Peter Adams (Valued at $150.00) and a certificate.
2nd - Janet Selby limited edition AusBonsai bonsai pot, A signed copy of Bonsai With Australian Native Plants by Dorothy and Vita Koreshoff and certificate
3rd - 42 Mice handmade shohin bonsai pot and certificate
A People's Choice award will also be presented and the winner will be chosen by you, the members of AusBonsai. The recipient of this award will receive a Janet Selby limited edition AusBonsai bonsai pot and a certificate. Voting for this award will take place between 1st July and 8th July 2012 and instructions for voting will be posted towards the end of June.
Australian Native Bonsai in training awards
Stock must be less than 12 months in training and isn't required to be in a bonsai pot
1st - A custom design program* of a possible future design of your winning prebonsai by Peter Adams (Valued at $200.00), A signed copy of Bonsai With Australian Native Plants by Dorothy and Vita Koreshoff and certificate
2nd - Janet Selby limited edition AusBonsai bonsai pot and certificate
3rd - 42 Mice handmade accent pot and certificate
*The design program is a graphic package -- a virtual class on paper -- and it contains future state drawing of the tree in full colour; 'how-to' diagrams that illustrate the points made and the steps to take; supporting text and horticultural notes on the species or suggestions as to where these might be had.
The panel of judges this year consists of Peter Adams of Washington State in U.S.A, John Marsh of New South Wales and Andrew Ward from South Australia. This will bring an interesting dynamic to the judging by seasoned and accomplished artists.
Eligibility and requirements:
• The bonsai must be an Australian native
• The bonsai must be part of the submitting artists personal collection
• Trees entered in previous years 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 2012 forum
• You must use the correct PREFIX to specify the CATEGORY you are entering. [ANBA] for Australian Native Bonsai Awards and [ANBITA] for Australian Native Bonsai in training awards. Examples:
[ANBA] Casuarina cunninghamiana
[ANBITA] Melaleuca linariifolia - 11 months training
• Photographs must be of good quality, be a minimum of 500 x 500 pixels and in full colour.
• Photographs must be taken in front of a plain background.
• 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 above requirements.
• Judging will be via an average point score and will be conducted by Peter Adams, John Marsh and Andrew Ward.
• Photography is not being judged however the best possible picture/s should be submitted. Review our section on photographing bonsai for tips. In previous years 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 and structured. 3 highly experienced and accomplished artists with 3 different subjective opinions. As in all competitions, the judge’s decision is final and must be treated with respect.
A brief note on judging from a previous judge, Roger Hnatiuk.
Final date for submitting entries will be midnight on 30th June 2012. Results will be published on AusBonsai.com.au by 14th July 2012.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.
Australian Native Bonsai Awards BANNER
Alternatively, the following file is an A4 sized posters that can be printed and placed on notice boards or downloaded and emailed to friends. Have fun and best of luck!
Regards,
Steven
THE FINE PRINT:
Contest void where prohibited by law.
By submitting your entry, you agree to grant AusBonsai.com.au 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 14th July 2012.
Prizes will be posted worldwide upon receipt of postal address (by PM to Steven - no addresses will be made public)
no, only however many days trained since i cut back and wired. I was being overly generous with the training time 
