The Winners of the 2010 WOM

Mint Tin Carving Contest!

The 2010 WOM Mint Tin Carving Contest is history! While we would have liked to seen more participation, there was a wide and interesting array of carvings submitted. In all there were ten submissions from six carvers. For this reasons, the separate catagories were dispensed with and all the submissions tossed (gently) into one group.

The submissions were reviewed by a distinguished panel of judges at the 2010 Artistry in Wood in Dayton, OH. Judges included Woodcarving Illustrated Editor Shannon Flowers , WOM Publisher Matt Kelley, Senior Editor Mike Bloomquist, and Notes From The Net Editor Doug Evans. In addition to quality of the carvings, the judges also looked for inventive concepts and maximum use of the container space. After due consideration and spirited discussion, the judges unamious agreeded on the following winners:

First Place: Will Hayden, Vancouver, WA, for his tin containing eighteen (18) separate carvings. The judges were equally impressed by both the quantity and quality of the carvings Will managed to pack into the mint tin.

Second Place: Jim O'Harra, Grove City, OH, for his three piece Santa. Jim really maximized the use of space in his submission, and took great pains to ensure his carving could be properly assembled.

Third Place: Tony Cummings, Linden, NC, for his chain carving. This was a continuous chain carving with different types of links, which fully filled the tin.

It should be noted that all three of the winning submissions required a great deal of care, patience and repeated adjustments to repack into their tins.

Honorable Mention:

Jim O'Harra for his Forever Friends entry. In this interesting presentation, Jim adherred one carving to the top of the tin and the companion carving to the bottom of the tin.

Maura Macalouso, Staten Island, NY, for her train and track set, which included an engine, two cars and a caboose, as well as three sections of track.

Marty Leenhouts, Garden City, MN, for his chip carved business card holder, which nicely filled the tin.

Ronnie Boston, Pasadena, TX for his bolo tie carving. Ronnie had three other submissions, including a dog and two man-in-the-moon carvings

Wil Hayden will receive a $25 gift certificate from Fox Chapel Publishing, and a $25 gift certificate for the Carvers' Companion Gift Shop at Cafepress; Jim O'Harra will receive a $25 gift certificate from Fox Chapel, and a $15 gift certificate for the Carvers' Companion Gift Shop, and Tony Cummings will receive a $20 gift certificate for the WOM Carving Gift Shop.

Each of the Honorable Mention carvers will receive a one-year subscription/renewal to Woodcarving Illustrated or Carving Magazine, and a WOM coffee mug.

A big thanks to all the participants, as well as Fox Chapel Publishing/Woodcarving Illustrated and Carving Magazine for their generious support of the 2010 contest. Watch for news about the 2011 contest in a future issue of WOM.

For more and larger photos of all the submissions, visit the Mint Tin Contest Gallery by clicking HERE.