I have worked in the booth, for one or two days, over the past 10 years, since I was a member of the club. Though, I am no longer a member of the club I still have many friends in it and so when they called, asking if I could fill in one day, I said yes. I was to work the morning shift with B.J, Orville, and Lester, who I have worked with many times.
As we were getting the booth ready for the days visitors, one of the people who work in the Hall of Gems & Minerals came up and congratulated me on my wins; or so I thought.
It was not until I took my lunch break and decided to get one more picture of my cuffs that I saw that my Squash Blossom and Vine cuff had won a donated award for excellence. I was shocked, I could not believe it because this honor had not been presented (yet) when I had been at the fair the first week it was open, when I was there for exhibitors night.
I had been awarded the Cinderhill Award for the Best Single Piece of Jewelry.
I guess you could say I was reeling at the realization.
Turns out the independent, donated, awards are presented some time after the fair opens so those who make those decisions can have time to compare and ponder their choices. AND the Cinderhills who presented the award had a booth in the room (but I had never met them), so I went over and introduced myself and while asking what it was about my cuff that they felt had merited this award, I realized every other phrase out of my mouth was either "thank you" and "I am shocked". I then shut up. The Cinderhills explained what their process was for selecting the recipient and then I thanked them again, and again, and again.
I then left their booth and went to lunch. Let's just say the rest of the afternoon was a bit of haze.
So here it is, a picture of the cuff and the "award". I have also now accepted the realization that I am an "award winning artist".