Photo Contest Winners

[jnorth]

Ok the results are in . Thank you so much Burt for judging and thank you Eastern Nishikigoi for sponsoring our little contest!! Winners please contact Nancy M to arrange to have your prizes shipped.

1st place - HenryC
2nd place - MikeM
3rd place - Jan T
Judges Award - Blacku13
Chairman Award - WCStory

Below are the notes from Burt:

To begin with judging koi from photos is not the easiest as it is difficult to see the finite points such as the thickness and quality of the colors , hard to be able to see the true finish and quality of the shiroji. And depending on the photos they could be overexposed and wash out the colors, or place incorrect coloring ,underexposed and again sell the koi short, the position of the koi and the angle of the photos may be misleading for conformation , etc.There many excellent koi in the contest and for sure not everybody will agree with my choices. So now that I have given you my disclaimers for my choices they are as follows:
1st place- #26 shiro utsuri…..and I know all that know me are not going to be surprised ! But I think my reasoning will help you to understand. First the conformation is one of the two best of all koi entered ,it has the true torpedo shape we look for. Next this is one of the few koi in this contest that I can actually see the quality of the shiroji, it is a very soft white ,extending from nose to tail, not the harsh white we see in many koi. The sumi is all very even from front to back and homogenous in intensity , and nearly finished. The next points are it has very balanced moto guru on both pecs, has an interesting head pattern , not just the standard menware or hachiware pattern. As to the pattern which has less importance , unless two koi are almost equal in quality, this fish has the requisite checkerboard pattern which when we consider utsuri (meaning reflections) is a big plus, and one more point if you look at this koi hollistically it has real good symmetry overall.
2nd place- #21 kohaku….This is the other koi with excellent conformation, full body, torpedo shape, thick tail joint, nice full pecs. The next outstanding characteristic is the very thick beni and even over the entire koi. I get the impression this is a young koi with a definite future, even though it is a pretty good sized koi right now. The shiroji is good to very good, but in all fairness the reason this koi could not compete for top honors right now is the pink or flesh color on the white just behind the head pattern behind the right eye , and the apparent uneven sashi on the left side of the mid dorsal area. The tail stop is nice and the small red patch at the caudal peduncle on the right side is not distracting. Hopefully as this koi grows since it is a female I would expect and hope the shiroji will improve in these two aforementioned areas. Overall this is an excellent kohaku, but if the owner becomes disenchanted with her I am sure I can find room for her in my large pond. Hahaha.
3rd place- #19 maruten kohaku….This koi might eventually surpass the two koi ahead of it. But first it would have to be a female as this is currently the major drawback it faces, the conformation does not come close to the other two koi. This is also one of those ones that the photos don’t help it as it is not close enough to see the true quality of the shiroji or thickness of the beni. But it does apparently have very nice beni and shiroji, a very attractive, balanced pattern, good tail break, the white shoulder is a great accent mark the tail joint is nice and thick. This is a young koi and it’s future looks bright if it is a female and can fill out the body .
judge’s award-#29 maruten sanke….Since I didn’t have any required guidelines for choosing this award I have chosen to consider this award as a tategoi award. Again this koi has many of the same attributes and shortcomings that the 3rd place kohaku has, needs mor ebulk, which f a female it should be able to pick up.Has a very balanced pattern and shiroji appears very good, the little nose area discoloration is minimal and should resolve as this fish matures. The biggest need is for the sumi to develop as currently the four sumi spots are very immature, the sumi stripe in the left pec is a nice accent mark and hopefullythere will be some sumi develop between the two patches between the second and third hi plates.
I considered koi #36 the doitsu maruten sanke for this award but since it is already very finished it didn’t match my own criteria. But in addition to these few mentioned koi there were several others that I would have no problem keeping in my ponds, although #12 the kohakogon was disqualified as this was not a photoshop contest !

[mstrseed]

Hey congratulations to Henry, Mike & Jan

[Russell Peters]

Shiro..........

[Nancy M.]

Congrats Henry, Mike M., Jan T. Blacku13, WCStory

[Campcheryl]

Congratulations to the winners. Thanks Burt for your time and help and explaination of your choices. Great job!

Jim this was fun. Thanks for putting it together.

[aquitori]

Congrats to all the winners of this contest.

[KoiCop]

Originally Posted by aquitori

Congrats to all the winners of this contest.

And special thanks to Jim, Nancy, Burt and Eastern Nishikigoi for making it happen and keeping us entertained.

[gjs63]

Comgrats to the winners. Thanks, Joyce

[Sangreaal]

Congratulations Henry, Mike, Jan, Blacku 13 and WCStory! Thank you Burt for the judging (it's hard from pics!), and Eastern Nishikgoi for sponsoring. And thanks Jim for having the cojones for organizing this little fling.

When do we do it again?

[Brutuscz]

Thanks for all the hard work....great job!!! Congrats to the winners!!! Definitely a good time. Lets do another soon!!!!