*~ FINISHED ~* RTH Benefit Cab Contest

Welcome to our first ever RTH Benefit cabochon contest. With this inaugural event we are supporting the Ed Mohs memorial fundraising efforts and working to close the gap between what our generous members have donated and raised, and the cost of installing a permanent bench at the Phoenix Zoo with a plaque honoring Ed.

---

Congratulations to jasoninsd and liveoak who won first and second place! You guys blew me away with both of these designs that perfectly captured the spirit of a two-piece Mohs 'rockin heart.' The public poll is now locked thus revealing the public vote which as it turns out decided the contest on it's own and I'm OK with that. I'm super proud of how the contest developed and the good work we did in helping the community accomplish the purchase of the Ed Mohs bench which has been ordered and will be installed in the coming month or so. Complete visual inspection parameters are below.



Overall appearance in-hand, 20 points possible
Surface - Smooth as the material will allow, clean and free of polish
Shine - deep and consistent commiserate with the material

Cabochon Design, 20 points possible
Design - creativity of capture
Shape and Size - uniqueness/difficulty, good use of available material

Technical Aspects, 60 points possible
Stability - Domed front, flat back, no wobble
Dome - uniform shape, absence of flat areas
Symmetry - symmetrical shape or creative freeform
Girdle - uniform height without flat spots <or> edge to edge dome
Rear edge - effective bevel or sharp without chipping
Scratches - visible to naked eye at arms length

---

It's time for the public voting portion of the contest and we're doing it a bit (lot) different than our monthly cab contest. For this voting period members are asked to vote for their THREE favorite cabochons from the 10 entries displayed in random order below. Each vote given to a cabochon awards 5 points to that cabochon. Total points accumulated by each cabochon will remain hidden by the software until the poll is closed in 2 weeks Oct 20th and will be combined with the technical score from in-hand judging and a winner will be declared on 10/31. Details of the in-hand judging will be explained at that time.

Contestants are asked to please continue to do a wonderful job of keeping personal pictures, or knowledge of which cabochon is yours, unpublished on the forum and social media until the completion of the of the public voting period. In other words, please hold off on posting "vote for me on RTH" posts on social media. We say this only because there are cash money prizes at stake, and any extra curricular activities discovered could lead to disqualification and none of us want that

---

---

10/06/2023 - Public voting period of the contest is currently underway.

fencejumper (cab received)
agatewhisperer (cab received)
opalpyrexia (cab received)
Rockoonz (cab received)
jasoninsd (cab received)
liveoak (cab received)
khara (cab received)
NDK (cab received)
taylor (cab received)
rockbrain (cab received)
rockjunquie
hummingbirdstones

---

For this cabochon contest our goal is to fill 16 entry spaces on a first-claimed basis. Please claim your spot here in THIS thread. If all 16 spots are filled we can generate at least $1000 for the cause, while also proving a nice prize and consolation prize to the 1st and 2nd place winners.

If you're unfamiliar with it you can read more about it here:
forum.rocktumblinghobby.com/thread/103011/all-fundraising

---

Currently 4 Spaces Available (updated 8/20, 7:30pm)

---

The following is a summary of the contest and timeline. More specific details regarding visual judging etc. will be filled in in this post as we go.

• Entry Donation: $100 minimum
• Entries Goal: 16 (1 entry per registered member please)
• Prizes (may vary): First place $300 and custom Tela Formosa wire wrap, 2nd place $125
• Entry and Payment Deadline: 8/31/23
• Contest Period: Now thru 10/31/23
• Receipt of Cabochon for judging: 9/30/23
• Slab Mailing: ASAP upon payment received
• Contest Task: Contestants are asked to create a cabochon from the slab a they receive and mail it to me for visual judging.
• Contest Material: Each contestant will receive a single slab approx 3" x 6", .25" thick. Sixteen (+) very similar slabs were cut from the same rock, boxed and shuffled for completely random fairness.
• Material Type: Plasma Agate from Clear Creek, CA which was chosen intentionally for being generally stable yet challenging to work with. Contestants can expect to encounter regions of the slab of varying MOHS hardness, matrix and vugs, and inability to take a great polish. Several of the slabs contain small areas of cinnabar as well as crystal druzy.
• Visual Judging: A (tbd) points scale will used to award points based on various aspects such as creativity and workmanship. Specific details will be posted here as we go. As with our monthly RTH Cabochon contest, we're looking for a traditional cabochon of any size and shape, with a flat backside and domed top, girdled or continuously curved dome/sides.
• Public Voting: Anonymous photos of each entry will be posted in a public voting poll thread.
• Photography: Photos of the completed cab will occur in a level-playing-field manner at the time of visual judging - specifics TBD.
• Final Scoring: Visual judging points will be combined with public voting poll points and winners will be determined and announced in the voting thread.
• Final Disposition: At the conclusion of the contest the entire collection of cabochons will be auctioned off separately to benefit the Ed Mohs zoo bench memorial fund.

8/19 UPDATE - In order to achieve the absolute highest level of anonymity in the contest as possible, as contest cabochons are received they will be turned over to an independent 3rd party (my wife) for package opening and the assignment of a randomly generated number corresponding with the contestant which only she will know and have recorded. At the time of visual judging and photography I will absolutely not know whose cab I am handling. I'm not sure exactly what the public voting thread will look like but the assigned number will likely be used as a display order.


Note: Contestants please hold off on posting any personal pictures of your cabochon creation OR the marked slab - or anything else that can specifically identify a cabochon as being yours until after the public viewing/voting portion of the contest, thanks!


Actual Contest Slabs:


View full sized photo: rocktumblinghobby.com/contests/2023-benefit-cab-contest/20230805_122537-cropped.jpg