Award Winners

At the OHCG Annual hookers who wish to have their rugs judged by OHCG assigned judges may submit them for consideration in one of several different categories:  Fine Cut, Wide Cut, Multi Cut, Primitive, Pictorial, Oriental, Alternative, Original and Beginners.  Each rug is listed and receives a special tag, noting its category for judging.

The doors to the exhibition hall are closed at 4 pm on the Friday of the Annual, and the judges fan out to assess the rugs in great detail.  They remove them from the display and examine them very closely - both the front and the back!  When the delegates arrive on Saturday morning, they can see which rugs have won and have ribbons attached to them.

Several folks in our group entered their rugs for judging, and they were fantastic items!  Our very own Iris Vermeulen was awarded the prize in the "Original" category for her "Palm Fronds" rug.  She listed her teacher as Capri Boyle Jones.

Audrey Shewan was awarded an Honourable Mention in the "Fine Cut" category, for a Jane McGown Flynn design called "Ruthie".  Her teacher was her daughter, Carol Shewan.

Ruthie

Audrey explained:

"Carol  needed a student for her McGowan teacher's certificate. Started in 2015 finished  2016. The name of the pattern  is Ruthie. I enjoyed  hooking this rug.  It went back to the school last fall to be judged.  I think they liked it too."

...but wait - there's more!  On the Saturday of the show delegates vote in 2 categories:  Best Theme Rug, for the items submitted for the theme of the show (which was Images of Canada this year); and the Rowan Award for Best in Show.  The votes are tallied up at the end of the day and the winners announced at the gala dinner.

Given that there were almost 1,000 rugs on display over the weekend and in contention for the Rowan Award, you can imagine just how stiff the competition was.

Iris' "Palm Fronds" won the Rowan Award as well!

Iris Vermeulen with the Rowan Trophy and her "Palm Fronds" rug

Here's what she told us about her rug:

"Palm Fronds" is based on a photo that I took of the top of a palm tree, where the fronds grow out of the trunk. I loved the colour of the fronds and the gradation from dark in the centre to the yellow of the new fronds at the top. I was very happy that I was able to capture the colour in a painterly manner. Each frond contains wool strips that are the same value but not the same colour. 

Capri Boyle Jones is a McGown accredited teacher from northern Florida. She was teaching at The Ragg Tyme School of Rug Hooking in 2015. Her work has been featured in "Rug Hooking Celebrations"  many times."

Congratulations are in order to all of the winners!