The material
Now I've taken delivery of just over 20 Japanese imported Itoigawa junipers - all with nice curled and twisted trunks and with a lot of quality foliage nice and close to the trunk, plus a summer of extension growth to offer more styling options. These are super healthy, well fed trees that have great chunky trunks and I hand picked every tree to be as equal as you can with a living plant.
How it Works
We will supply by post a material tree to all contestants - they will all be sent out on the same day by courier. We will send to UK, Ireland and Europe *
Trees will be numbered, contestant names will go in a hat and I will pick up a tree, my wife will draw a name - I can't think of a fairer way to do it
The styling contest will run for one month so nobody needs to rush the job or worry if they are busy one weekend. I have waited until Autumn as junipers are better off not styled in summer.
The contest is open to all people of all bonsai experience.
The results will be judged based on photographs of the styled trees and will consider the styling, technique and overall image. Pictures from front, side, back and above will be needed to judge the tree to give the best impression of the 3 dimensional tree the contestant has created - we want to promote good all round bonsai rather than a flat tree created just for the camera.
There will be a group of judges invited to pick the winners - pictures will be sent to them as numbered anonymous files - I will co-ordinate the contest, organise the picture files etc and therefore not be one of the judges as I'll know who has styled each tree
The judges decision is final and will be based on the pictures supplied - ONLY the tree will be judged - If you chose to repot them (not required or recommended) the pot, stand, display etc will not count towards the judging process.
When ?
Trees will be sent out 28th/29th Sept
Styling will be all of October
Pictures must be in by 1st November at latest - judging will be completed within 1 week from closing date
How much will it cost ?
Entry costs £80.00 and included the tree and UK delivery charges
* European contestants - due to increased delivery charges the fee is £90.00.
We are happy to send to all European Union countries -if you are from other international countries please check with me first if I can send you tree material - many will not officially allow shipment of bonsai although these trees have just cleared defra QT and have tested free from disease, pathogens, soil pests etc.
Payments by paypal to info@aqualabs.co.uk, or by credit/debit card over the phone 07855 300789 or by online bank transfer to Aqualabs business account - details on request
To make the contest work we need 10 or more people to enter - if entries fall short entry money will be refunded in full, or we can offer the option of sending out the trees anyway with a partial refund.
What do you win?
For 10-14 contestants
1st prize £100 to spend on any of our stock - Bonsai@16 has 210 trees in stock right now, copper wire, Aluminium wire, Tibolar SR, Biogold, Naruko, Fish Emulsion, Lime sulphur, You can chose prizes from the ebay shop, in person, or over the phone/by email or collect in person at the Bonsai Europa15 event in Bury.
2nd prize £50 to spend as above
for 15+ contestants
1st £120 to spend as above
2nd £60 to spend as above
3rd £30 to spend as above
Contest is limited to the number of stock trees - 21 in total
Results and further questions prior to the contest will be via the online facebook threads, or specific questions BEFORE the contest can be emailed or sent via messenger
Cheers for reading and good luck
Grown up junipers on the sales bench
