Official Portion: This year our city-wide painting competition will take place on December 30th. For each of the game (Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy and Lord of the Rings) there will be two categories – Single Model and Group/Large model along with the open category for Dioramas and Extremely large models. There is even a category for Youngbloods.
Model must be received at GW Greenwich Village (54 East 8th Street, 212-982-6314) by 3 PM and the awards will be announced at 5 PM on Monday, December 31. You MUST BE PRESENT to win any awards.
Entries will be accepted beginning December 21,2007 either at GW Greenwich Village or GW Forrest Hills (71-59 Austin Street, Forest Hills 718-263-7574)
End of Official Portion.
Now, loyalty be damned, I can’t help it but comment on the way this competition is organized this year. Retrospectively it turned out to be rather long and somewhat angry, so If you are afraid of indigestion read no further.
People, we are not in rural Ohio (I have nothing against rural Ohio, btw) this is freaking New York City. Here, as opposed to rural Ohio, substantial number of people actually celebrates not only Christmas, but also, god forbid, the New Year’s eve... “Ball dropping”, “Times Square”… Does it ring any bells?
What it means for many of us is that on December 31 a number of people will be celebrating with their friends and families. What it also means that traffic to/from Manhattan on this particular day will be hell, and the isle in general will be overcrowded. So, the requirement of being physically present in the middle of Manhattan on that particular day effectively excludes all people who had prior engagements for this day and effectively excludes people from outer boroughs. So, effectively, this even should be renamed to Daemon in Manhattan or actually better still, Daemon in Greenwich Village.
You know, I was always under an impression that the point of painting competitions is to promote the hobby, bring together local painters and showcase GW model. Yes? NO! The point of this particular competition, clearly, is to put a big red checkmark in a yearly corporate report that the event TOOK PLACE and make a small paper in the White Dwarf that will start with flashy “On the last day of the year 2007 best painters on New York…. See, to say that “On December 25 of 2007” or “on January 3 of 2007 “ is much less sexy. I am surprised and upset that our local people went along with this.
What I propose? There are several alternatives that would make this competition open to the city rather then to residents of Manhattan. For once, requirement for physical presence on New Year’s Eve should be dropped – nobody required physical presence last year. If we actually want to mindlessly duplicate Games Day format that actually require presence of painters during award ceremony then move it to a regular Saturday or Sunday which is not associated with a major holiday.
Will I personally participate in this competition this year? Sadly no, not in this format at least - I do have prior engagements for this day, and I know at least 2 other people who will not be participating for the same reason.
With this, good luck to all people who will be able to participate
