We Have Winners!

A few months ago we announced a contest — a contest like no other, open to everyone regardless of age, preferred medium or location. Entries trickled in slowly around the Christmas season, so we extended our deadline and clapped our hands in glee as entries poured in from all over North America.

Thanks to everyone who entered our Express Yourself "Miramichi Memories" Art Contest, you made our judging difficult to say the least, and our contest a tremendous success.

All of the winners and Honourable Mentions are featured in this issue of Bread ‘n Molasses, and the winners are:

1^st – "Casting Spells" painting by Cathleen Richards-Green, Miramichi ($75 prize)

2^nd – "The Grocery Trip" short story by Mary Daley, Toronto ($50 prize)

3^rd – "Bowser House" historical essay by Dirk Stewart, Miramichi ($25 prize)

"My New Brunswick Memories" personal essay by Joan Cripps, Miramichi

"Perfect End to the Day" photograph by Beth Rossit, Miramichi

"Crossing the Chatham Bridge on your Journey of Life" personal essay by Lisa Wyllie, Miramichi

"George Davidson Bridge" photograph by Bill Anderson, Moncton

"After the Storm" photograph by Bill Anderson, Moncton

Congratulations everyone!

Many of you wondered how we would judge such an unusual contest. How could we compare a painting with a song, poem, photograph, essay, and so on? To answer that question — we didn’t. We judged entries individually, giving each one a score from one through five where one represented the most excellent and five the least.

We received so many entries we needed to form a special judging committee because there simply wasn’t enough time for the entire staff to participate. Each judge weighed in on his or her own without any discussion or influence from any of the other judges. To ensure fairness, any identifying markers were removed from the entries before the judges saw them.

As I tallied all the scores it was interesting to watch the process unfold. Sometimes the judging was split with the same entry receiving scores from both ends of the spectrum, one right through to five. Other times the judges scored nearly the same within a point or so. I added the diverse numbers together to come up with a final score out of a possible 25 for each entry. Luckily no entries tied and the winners were easily apparent.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this contest possible.