[Woodcarver] When should a carving be retired from competion?

[Victor Hamburger]

I was reading the new issue of Chip Chats in bed last night and found YET 
ANOTHER picture of an oft-pictured carving done by a well known carver.  The 
caption indicated that the carving had won a prize at a show, probably the 3rd 
or 4th time it had been entered in a large show and the same number of ribbons 
awarded to it.  It is an excellent carving, no doubt, but the question that came 
to my mind was, "How often should a carving be entered in a show before being 
retired from competition?"

This particular carver is a nice guy, a good teacher, and consistantly wins 
ribbons for his carvings.  I have no problem with that.  I DO have a serious 
question though about how many ribbons are too many for a carving? If 2-3 
carvings show up for a show in the same category, and each has already won a 
number or ribbons, what happens to the carver who doesn't get to many shows but 
has put a lot of time and effort into a carving that might well garner a ribbon 
except that it is now competing against carvings that have already been awarded 
ribbons at other shows? Very likely the judges recognise the carver's style and 
maybe even that it has been a previous winner.  I suspect the chances are 
lessened for the lone carver and he/she may become discouraged that they are 
always competing against the "circuit" carvers, the ones who continually take 
their top carvings to a number of shows each year.  To be fair, I expect the 
judges do not award ribbons solely on who carved the piece, but I still have the 
uneasy feeling that there may be some bias in the contest.  Chip Chats often has 
the same carving pictured in several shows each issue, so I am not picking on 
any one carver here, but the carvers who enter a number of shows each season.

Some carvers don't compete at all, ribbons and competition mean little to them. 
Some of us compete infrequently, and an occasional ribbon is a nice reminder 
that someone likes our work besides our spouses. And lastly some folks compete 
but retire a piece after one or two ribbons, while some seem to enter the piece 
into every competition that they can.

Do any shows prohibit previous winners (of other shows) from entering the piece 
in competition?  When is "enough is enough" in your mind?

	Vic H