Thank you to each and every one of you who have supported the NTA by being a member, competitor, and vendor. Now to what so many of you have been asking for:
- The 2023 Convention in South Dakota had 103 competitors, 245 mounts, and 537 entries ( 245 + 84 COTA + 201 Habitat + 10 Distinguished Taxidermist). 25 states were represented.
- The 2022 Convention in Ohio had 85 competitors, 162 mounts, and 189 entries (162 + 4 COTA + 14 Habitat + 7 Distinguished Taxidermist).
I hope that each of you can join me in being thrilled by our numbers and attendance. As some of you may already know, I returned to serve as a board member mid term in 2023. Much like the August 2022 board, we have been working hard to bring you our 2024 show.
Please join us at the Holiday Inn Executive Center in Columbia, Missouri, May 2nd – 4th, 2024. Those of you who are current with your dues will be able to attend with no further membership fees – two conventions for the price of one.
The following are some amendments:
- Taxidermist of the Year: Distinguished Taxidermist (Master of Masters to some) and North American Championships (Division of Excellence/Masters) will be eligible while National Championships (Open/Professional) will be ineligible and Collective Artists who are entering Distinguished Taxidermist will be ineligible.
- The Breakthrough Best of Show: North American Champions (Division of Excellence/Masters), National Champions (Open/Professional), and Collective Artists will be eligible.
- Medallion categories North American Championships (Division of Excellence/Masters), National Championships (Open/Professional) will now have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place medallions for competitors who score over 90.
- Mule Deer Medallions will be awarded as their own category for another year as we test this category for participation in a central location.
- Whitetails will have four categories in both medallion divisions, being Closed Mouth: long and short haired, and Open Mouth: long and short haired.
General Rules for clarification are as follows:
- Images will be accepted with each judge acknowledging each submission and their review on the scoresheet.
- In addition to one-on-one private critiques we will be offering an additional time when the competition room will be open to all competitors, guests, and other registrants, where the judges will be in attendance. Competitors who wish to have their piece reviewed by one of their judges in this seminar style critique will allow any and all to share in the experience. This will provide a great opportunity to test what you see and what a judge notes as the best attributes of a piece and distractions – issues to be addressed/corrected.
Please visit our website as new information becomes available throughout the season.
2023 National Taxidermists Association President Garvice Thomas