. . .the barn in pencil!!! Thank you all for helping me to see my way clearly to a decision. There were also a number of people who emailed me directly instead of commenting on the blog, and each one of those voted B. 2 voted for A, and I appreciate their strength in not running with the pack.

There is a different juror/judge each year. Some care about how well the entries interpret the category. Others only put the piece in the appropriate place and then judge it based on artistic merit. One judge actually down-graded a fabulous piece because the title didn’t match the work! Hard to say, so I just do my very best with each entry and do not settle for “good enough”.

We won’t know until late August how the piece fares in the competition. As with most things in life, more will be revealed in the fullness of time. (Are you sick of hearing that yet?)