[Call for Entries] Passion Award Design Competition

Jewelry Discussion
1

Entry Deadline March 15, 2007

The entry deadline is fast approaching for the third annual Bench
Jewelers Passion Award Design Competition. The winners will be
announced at the Bench Jewelers Conference & Expo April 27 - 29, 2006
in Buffalo NY.

For details, contest rules, and to enter the competition log onto:
http://www.BWSimon.com/DesignContest

For on the Bench Jewelers Conference & Expo log onto:

http://www.BWSimon.com/Conference

The competition is open to all professional Bench Jewelry Artist and
Designers actively involved in the design and production of jewelry.
The Passion Award Jewelry Design Contest consists of two divisions,
one for finished jewelry and one for CAD renderings.

All renderings in the CAD Rendering Division must be original and
created by the jeweler entering the contest using 3D computer
software. The jewelry rendered must be able to be made by a jeweler
using reasonable skills. The CAD Renderings Division categories aRe:
Men’s Jewelry, Ladies Rings, and Ladies Jewelry other than rings.

All jewelry submitted for the Finished Jewelry Division must be
original, and designed and made by the jeweler entering the contest.
No trade shops or other jewelers can work on the piece of jewelry.
The Finished Jewelry Division categories are: Men’s Jewelry, Ladies
Rings, and Ladies Jewelry other than rings.

NEW THIS YEAR

This year we have added two new categories in the Finished Jewelry
Division. The first is for jewelry that has been fabricated using a
Laser Welder, and the second is for jewelry that was designed by a
Design Team.

All jewelry submitted in the Design Team Category must be original,
and designed and made by the jewelers entering the contest. This
category is for two or more jewelers working together in one shop. No
outside trade shops or other jewelers can work on the piece of
jewelry.

Jewelers may enter both divisions and may enter one piece per
category in up to three categories in each Division. Photographs of
the finished jewelry or CAD renderings must be submitted over the
Internet with a completed entry form. Entry fees must be paid with a
credit card at time of entry. To submit entries log onto:
http://www.BWSimon.com/DesignContest

1st and 2nd place will be awarded in each category. All Passion
Award winners will receive a Trophy, Cash Award, and Publicized in
trade publications. Winners will be announced at the dinner on Friday
evening April 27, 2007 during the Bench Jewelers Conference & Expo.
Jewelers entering the contest are encouraged to attend; however,
attendance at the Bench Jewelers Conference & Expo is not necessary
to enter the contest or to win an award. In addition, a Jewelers
Choice Award will be presented during the Reception on Saturday night
April 28, 2007. Jewelers attending the Bench Jewelers Conference and
Expo will select the Jewelers Choice recipient from among the Passion
Award winners.

Deadline for submissions is March 15, 2007.

Contest Chairman: Mark Grosser

For details, contest rules, and to enter the competition log onto:
http://www.BWSimon.com/DesignContest

For on the

Bench Jewelers Conference & Expo log onto:

http://www.BWSimon.com/Conference

Brad Simon
Bench Media
http://www.bwsimon.com

2 
The competition is open to all professional Bench Jewelry Artist
and Designers actively involved in the design and production of
jewelry. The Passion Award Jewelry Design Contest consists of two
divisions, one for finished jewelry and one for CAD renderings.

I am curious: why only CAD renderings? Why not old fashioned “hand
renderings”?

Cameron

3

Cameron,

I am curious: why only CAD renderings? Why not old fashioned "hand
renderings"?

I don’t know what Brad Simon’s motivation is and would never attempt
to put words into his mouth. Having said that:

I see computer renderings from CAD designs as a wonderful new medium
to do jewelry related art (or any artistic representation). I am in
this business to sell my jewelry so anything that can be used as a
better sales aid is to my benefit.

Encouraging people to try their hand at any new medium can only help
to promote more research into perfecting the techniques involved in
using that medium and therefore enhance what the medium can offer. As
computers become more capable in their capacity to crunch numbers and
rendering programs become more sophisticated in how they are set up
to handle all the variables involved in reproducing the way light
traverses the real world, the renderings that can be created this way
are getting more and more life like. Learning to control the
programs’ variables allows the user to entice the program to to put
on screen (and paper) a representation of a jewelry object which can
be either photo realistic or merely a poorly done “cartoon” style
picture. Skills need to be learned and new variable parameters have
to be explored to do the realism these programs are capable of. These
skills and controls can be taught (or shared through sales of program
plug ins) to help other users create better renderings. The better
the renderings, the more possibilities of jewelry sales. The more
skill learned to make computers produce viable, tangible items (with
design elements not easily produced by hand) then the wider open is
the realm of creating items we would have dropped from our visual
library, in lieu of more easily produced designs using conventional
methods.

I, for one, laud Mr. Simon for being progressive enough to open this
new area to competitive experimentation.

Paul D. Reilly

4

The fourth annual Bench Jewelers Passion Award Design Competition
will be held in conjunction with the Bench Jewelers Conference & Expo
April 24 - 27, 2008 in Los Angeles, CA. The competition is open to
all professional Bench Jewelry Artist and Designers actively involved
in the design and production of jewelry. The Passion Award Jewelry
Design Contest consists of two divisions, one for finished jewelry
and one for CAD renderings.

All jewelry submitted for the Finished Jewelry Division must be
original, and designed and made by the jeweler entering the contest.
No trade shops or other jewelers can work on the piece of jewelry.
The Finished Jewelry Division categories aRe: Men’s Jewelry, Ladies
Rings, Ladies Jewelry other than rings, Laser Fabricated Jewelry, and
a category for jewelry that was designed by a Design Team.

All renderings in the CAD Rendering Division must be original and
created by the jeweler entering the contest using 3D computer
software. The jewelry rendered must be able to be made by a jeweler
using reasonable skills. The CAD Renderings Division categories aRe:
Men’s Jewelry, Ladies Rings, and Ladies Jewelry other than rings.

Jewelers may enter both divisions and may enter one piece per
category in up to three categories in each Division. Photographs of
the finished jewelry or CAD renderings must be submitted over the
Internet with a completed entry form. Entry fees must be paid with a
credit card at time of entry. To submit entries log onto:
www.BWSimon.com/DesignContest.

1st and 2nd place will be awarded in each category. All Passion
Award winners will receive a Trophy, Cash Award, and Publicized in
trade publications. Winners will be announced on Friday April 25,
2008 during the Bench Jewelers Conference & Expo. Jewelers entering
the contest are encouraged to attend; however, attendance at the
Bench Jewelers Conference & Expo is not necessary to enter the
contest or to win an award. In addition, a Jewelers Choice Award will
be presented on Sunday April 27, 2008. Jewelers attending the Bench
Jewelers Conference and Expo will select the Jewelers Choice
recipient from among the Passion Award winners.

Deadline for submissions is March 15, 2008.

Contest Chairman: Mark Grosser

For details, contest rules, and to enter the competition log onto:
www.BWSimon.com/DesignContest