Re: Aquascaping competitions in North America (fwd)

[krandall@world.std.com]

At 01:07 PM 7/7/99 -0700, Erik wrote:
>>From the APD today.  Sounds like we have an energetic volunteer.
>I would assume the answer would be "yes, go for it"? :)
>
>  - Erik
>
>-- 
>Erik Olson
>erik at thekrib dot com
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 07:37:08 -0500
>From: James Purchase <jpurch@interlog.com>
>Subject: Aquascaping competitions in North America
>
>There has been a flurry of talk recently on the state of aquascaping in
>North America vs Europe and Japan. It seems that the Dutch in particular,
>along with the Germans, have a long history of organized competitions for
>the best looking aquascape. One reason (perhaps) that this has never
>happened in North America is I suppose the sheer physical size of the three
>countries which occupy the continent. A European can go for a Sunday drive
>and pass through multiple national borders - I could drive for days without
>ever leaving the province of Ontario.
>
>There IS a way that the situation could be improved however, and one which
>would make the "distance" factor immaterial. The Aquatic Gardeners
>Association has a website and it would be quite simple to announce a
>competition and request submissions of photographs of people's favourite
>aquascapes. The photos could be judged by a panel of people from the AGA and
>the winning submissions could be posted on the AGA website and published in
>the Journal. Now, before Karen tells me that the AGA is a volunteer
>organization and has only limited resources - I'd like to volunteer to help
>in any way I can. I have been in the AGA for two years and haven't seen the
>"membership" as a whole asked to do much of anything. This might be a way to
>get everyone involved.
>
>So, Karen, Neil, what do you think???

I think it's an awesome idea!  James, tell us how you'd like to organize
it.  You'd have to be able to accommodate hard copy prints and/or slides as
well as digital images.  I know both Erik and I have slide and photo
scanners as long as we aren't innundated with entries.

If it goes over well enough, it could be an on-going contest with prizes
awarded quarterly, semi-annually or whatever.

Just a note on the side, James.  You can't always count on an AGA
management committee member seeing something on the APD.  I'm _really_ glad
Erik saw this and forwarded it to the committee.  I haven't been able to
keep up with the list for the last couple of months, and I know Neil's been
very busy as well.  If you come up with any more great ideas like this, (or
even less brilliant ones <g>)  cc'ing one of us directly will insure that
it gets where it needs to go.

Karen