JCurtis

I echo Nick's appreciation above for having folks from the e-board respond quickly in this thread--thank you Joe and Scott. Scott, I appreciate the insight into the decision-making that went on behind the scenes. I believe that there are several suggestions in this thread that hopefully will be considered for future awards ceremonies. Shane Curtis

My son and I attended last week's IPMS Nationals. As we've done for several years, we did not plan to attend the Awards Banquet, choosing instead to watch the ceremony from the provided (and appreciated) overflow room. The convention schedule stated that the awards presentation would begin at 7:30 PM and last until the dreaded "TBD." We arrived at the designated room right at 7:30. As we made our way in, I noticed that they were about halfway through the Junior class (which is always announced first.) "Hm, they must have started a little early," I thought. "If my son was still a Junior, I'd be a little upset about missing that." After they finished the Junior class, they went into the Special Theme awards. "Oh, this is different, that they are announcing these this early," I assumed. Right after that--the Best in Class awards. That's when I realized something was amiss. No way they'd be announcing those this early. Sure enough, we went through those, followed by the Most Popular and then the George Lee Judges Grand Award. Thank you, and good night. Wait. What? It's 8:00 PM, and the ceremony is over? Who won all the other categories? There was confusion in the room, as many other attendees were as befuddled as i was. In speaking to others who were there, I heard that the other category winners were not announced--they were just shown on screen during the Awards Banquet. If that is indeed what happened, then it's a shame. Now, I've always believed, as many others do, that the awards ceremony takes WAY too long. And I have heard suggestions in the past of shortening it by only announcing first place winners, instead of first, second, and third. I've always been dead-set against that--I think if you win ANY award at the National Contest, your name should be announced at the awards ceremony. Full Stop. No ifs, ands, or butts. You want to shorten the ceremony? Great. We all do. Here are some recommendations, NONE of which involve short-changing those who earned awards: First, it's not Amateur Hour or Open Mike Night. Recruit two or three announcers who actually know how to speak in front of a group. Not everyone has this gift--but there are many in IPMS who do. Have them rotate often so nobody gets too tired. Make sure they are familiar with the classes they are announcing, so that when they run across "Polikarpov" or "Schutzenpanzer," they are able to get through it without stumbling. Next, the audience doesn't need any running commentary, jokes, or other asides: "That was a really nice model." "Oh, this category was probably difficult to judge." "Wow, it's good to see he was able to make it here this week." It's not the Mutt and Jeff or Laurel and Hardy Show--we don't need two guys up there "riffing" off of each other. Just announce the winners. Finally, if there is a modeler with an unusual name, they need to take their best shot at it and keep moving, instead of taking 15 seconds to fumble over it, giggle, and finally string together a guess--only to run across the same name five more times throughout the evening, with each attempt taking longer than the last. This year's National Convention was amazing--a super, comfortable venue with fantastic vendor and contest rooms. The Tidewater folks busted their butts and put on a terrific show. I just wish the "closing ceremonies" had lived up to the rest of the week. For those who still may be wondering who won which category, there is a link on the IPMS-USA homepage to the presentation. Shane Curtis