The 2011 International Woodcarvers Congress

Photography by Marc Featherly, Normal, IL

The Affil­i­at­ed Wood Carvers (AWC) is a non-prof­it cor­po­ra­tion which pro­motes the fine art of wood carv­ing through spon­sor­ship of the Inter­na­tion­al Wood­carvers Con­gress, a week-long event held each year dur­ing the third full week of June in Iowa. Con­gress Week includes the annu­al com­pe­ti­tion and show, a series of relat­ed carv­ing sem­i­nars, the Annu­al Ban­quet, and the Annu­al AWC Mem­ber­ship Meeting.

Par­tic­i­pa­tion in the Con­gress is open to any­one inter­est­ed in wood­carv­ing. Par­tic­i­pants are required to be mem­bers of AWC, which costs $15.00 for an annu­al mem­ber­ship ($20.00 for­eign.) AWC mem­ber­ship includes infor­ma­tion­al newslet­ters, dis­count admis­sion to the exhib­it area dur­ing Con­gress Week with your mem­ber­ship card, access to the sem­i­nars and com­pe­ti­tion, and a copy of the annu­al pic­to­r­i­al Show Report.

The Annu­al Competition

The Inter­na­tion­al Wood­carvers Con­gress includes over 100 sep­a­rate cat­e­gories in the judg­ing com­pe­ti­tion and is the longest run­ning, most pres­ti­gious, com­pet­i­tive­ly judged wood­carv­ing show in exis­tence. It fea­tures exhibits from all over the Unit­ed States, Cana­da, and often some coun­tries over­seas. Cash awards and prizes have totaled over $17,000 year­ly in past events.

Com­pe­ti­tion is open to all lev­els of carvers in any age cat­e­go­ry. Mem­ber­ship to AWC is nec­es­sary to com­pete in the show, except for carvers 18 or younger.

For more infor­ma­tion, vis­it the AWC web site at http://awcltd.org/

The 2011 Com­pe­ti­tion Win­ners Gallery — Pho­tos By Mark Feath­er­ly: Click HERE

Out and About At The Con­gress -

Can­did pho­tos from Con­gress Week By Mark Featherly:

The Class­es — Click HERE

The Banquet — Click HERE

Around Con­gress — Click HERE

At the Show — Click HERE