I was first stunned by the question raised by Carbite, but only for a second as I remember asking myself the same question every year. I even ask the selfish question ‘who are all these people that I have never heard of before’. So, this year I decided to do a little research and find out more:
Out of the 18 prize winners:
8 new members, joined for the competition.
8 old members, who only use the gallery.
2 general members, Travis and Gekhang.
This explains a lot. Gekhang only posts in rod and reel, so the only name that I recognized out of the prize winners was Travis who is an avid contributor. I very rarely go in to the gallery and so did not recognize those names.
So, well done the new members and I hope you hang with us. Well done the gallery gang, there is good reason that these members win a lot, they take pride in presentation. Well done to all.
I had @Baker as the winner of paint, but had the top-3 in my short list of 6.
I had @Luskvillelures as best hard.
I didn’t look at the other categories.
Dave