This year 152 applicants from 24 countries and regions sent to us 301 photographs of their beloved Bonsai trees for the WBFF World Bonsai Contest 2006. There was an increase in applications, especially from North and South America and India. Over the years we could see improvements of Bonsai techniques through these photos. This year marks the 8th World Bonsai Contest.

Certain countries had many brilliant photos and some individuals sent such magnificant photos that we wished we could select all of them as winners. On the other hand, there were many photos which were not selected because of the poor quality of the photos which we were unable to enlarge, or only half of the Bonsai pot was shown, or photos which failed to show the front view of the trees. In some cases we believed that if the photos were taken more carefully, the result might be different.

On this occasion, I would like to extend our congratulations to all of the top winners, International winners and Honorable Winners. It is evident that a lot of effort was made by the Grand Winner and the two Runners-up winners, and suspect that only a high level of technique can maintain these qualities. We also could see that great effort had been made even by those candidates whose photos could not be winners. Overall, I can say that some of the unselected photos also had strong possibilities to be chosen.

I encourage anyone who was not selected in the 2006 challenge to participate in our contest again in the future. With greater effort, especially by those who applied with more than one photo, winning is very possible.

It is my pleasure to see the exchange of worldwide friendship through Bonsai is steadily growing.

Screening Committee Representative
Shinichi Nakajima

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The WBFF World Bonsai Contest 2006 and How The Bonsai Photos Were Selected
Total Applications 152
Total Photos Submitted 301
Total Countries and Regions Represented 24

Screening & Selection Method

1. We selected the best photos for each applicant. Photos which were not clear, lacked basic information, or unknown names were removed from the selection. Imports from Japan were also removed from the selection.

2. The Committee then selected the top 50 which displayed good Bonsai techniques, artists’ skills and point of view as International Winners. Among these 50 International Winners, we chose the top 3 candidates and rated them in order of Grand Winner, First Runner-Up and Second Runner-up.

3. After the selection of top 50 “International Winners,” we divided the remaining photos into countries and regions and selected anoter 50 considering countries and locality.

To enter the 2007 WBFF World Bonsai Contest, log on to: http://www.worldbonsaicontest.com/