I am so happy to see all of you here today. You honour us with your presence, and we have also been honoured by the incredible, varied and wondrous artworks submitted by the artists of Second Life for this round, with a total of 40 artworks and 11 building designs.

Artists & Builders taking part so far have come from Canada, the USA, the UK, Scotland, England, Spain, France, Brazil, Denmark, Holland and Australia.

Before going on, I would like for everyone to give a big round of applause to a tireless champion of the arts, the person most responsible for everything we see all around us now, and co-host of the UWA 3D Art & Design challenge, quadrapop Lane !!!

I also want to acknowledge the Cultural Precinct at the University of Western Australia and ShedworX.com and www.etshirts.com who have all contributed such that the total prize pool for the UWA 3D Art & Design Competition is sitting at well over $L357,000.

Something new for November only at the moment, is that an Artist Book Prize is being awarded. Juanita Deharo who owns Second Edition group is offering a L$2000 prize for an ‘artist book’ . “An artists’ book is an artwork in a book format, or an artwork which has its origin in the form or concept of the book.” You can interpret this in any way you want. This prize may be ongoing. All entries to the IMAGINE CHALLENGE that have conceptual roots in a book will be considered for the Artist Book Prize.

The special Artists Participation Pool that had been established, raised $L6,000 for the artists participating in the October round. I want to acknowledge the generosity of Sasun Steinbeck, Tranguloid Trefoil & Phillip Vought whose contributions form the bedrock of this pool.

I would however like to quickly acknowledge evryone who did contribute. Please forgive me for this long list, but it is important to me to acknowledge them!

Thank you MidnightRain Glas, Jesse Keyes, Lady Caitlyn Inglewood, Dusty Canning, Juliete3D Quinzet, Kayo Houston, Ichiko Miles, Lubnatsi Papp, Rae Larkham, Mab MacMoragh, Tweetie Birdbrain, Mrs Brandi, Genivieve Caproni, Briarmelle Quintessa and Bacon Hellershanks

As described previously all artists who submit a genuine entry (not a block of plywood) and who do not receive one of the main prizes, will receive a share of what has been contributed to the donation jar for that month. Nothing is being kept for the land tier, 100% will go back to artists.

I know the amount is not a whole lot, but following this months total contributions, all participating artists who are not one of the main prize winners will receive $L220 for the October round. I know for a few it will be the first time they received Lindens based on an art creation by them, and for the vetrans, I am sure this can be out to you in furthering the cause art or helping others in need!

This was reset today, and the pool restarted with $L4,000

Also, something else new that was initiated a week ago is A People’s Choice Award, along with the judges categories. We hope to give this award every month. Voting panel will go up each month for the days between the closing of the month’s entries and the announcement of the winners. The panel will be just along the pathway between the main entry landmark and this platform holding the IMAGINE entries. You register your vote by touching the image of the work you like best – one vote per person. This award is a fun award with a $L500 prize.

I would like also to acknowledge the members of the judging panel. On the panel were:
1. Professor Ted Snell (RL) – Director, Cultural Precinct, The University of Western Australia
2. Frank Roberts (RL) – The University Architect, The University of Western Australi
3. John Barret-Lennard (RL) – Curatorial Director, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery
4. Raphaella Nightfire (SL) – CEO of the Evane Model Agency, CEO of the SW&MB Fashion Productions, Seniorr Writer for Best of SL Magazine, Owner Sanctorum Gallery
5. Tranguloid Trefoil (SL) – Owner of WASP at the University of Western Australia
and yours truly

The panel for the Grand Prize will be an expanded one and will include:
1. Frolic Mills – Best of Second Life & CO CEO
2. Sasun Steinbeck – artist, scripter, and maintainer of the Art Galleries of SL list at http://sasun.info/ArtGalleriesofSL.aspx
3. Wil Dreadlow, ICON Lifestyle Magazine CEO & Publisher
4. Lowell Cremorne, Owner of The Metaverse Journal

On the panel for the Artist Book Prize, are:
1. Juko Tempel – Australian living in Paris. Librarian, photographer, linguist, educator and collector of new media art.
2. Victor Vezina – Journalist, artist, writes weekly column on digital toys and virtual worlds for Guardian newspaper, London. Gallery owner, experimental artist, art collector in SL.
3. Juanita Deharo – Gallery owner, Art educator, professional artist specialising in artist books, small sculptures, printmaking.
and yours truly

I apologize for the long speech. Now to announce the winers. The winers will be announced in 1 minute intervals. We do invite everyone to comment and congratulate the winners and for the winners to respond before the next announcement. Winners also please do ensure you get a photo of you and your artwork taken by quadrapop before you go. This will go into the UWA in Second Life Blog and a number of other journals and blogs. http://uwainsl.blogspot.com/

A lot of images of the artworks and buildings are also up on KOINUP (with thanks again to the expert camerawork of quadrapop) http://www.koinup.com/UWAinSL/works/

4 Honourable mention prizes have been awarded by the Judging panel for October for the IMAGINE challenge.

The Honourable Mention prize of $L500 for EMOTION is awarded to:
‘In Uterus/Pregnant First Record’ by SILENE CHRISTEN

The Honourable mention prize of $L500 for HARMONY is awarded to:
‘Living in Syn’ by MAYA PARIS

The Honourable Mention prize of $L500 for IMMERSION & APPLICATION, is awarded to:
‘Come Go With Me’ by ALIZARIN GOLDFLAKE

The Honourable Mention Prize of $L500 for HIDDEN WONDER, is awarded to:
Beauty/Beast by FEATHERS BOA

Next we move to the newly established People’s Choice Award which carries a prize of $L500. It was very very very hard for people selecting to only choose one single work. It was extremely close, and almost impossible to seperate, but in the end, by a nose…. the award goes to:
Drill by GINGER GRUT

Next we move to the 2nd overall prive for the IMAGINE Challenge. There were an incredible array of remarkable entries, and it was very difficult for the judges to seperate. After long consultation, the 2nd prize ($L1,250) was awarded to:
Holophrasis by SNUBNOSE GENOPEAK

Failing by a whisker to defend his win from the September round!

Next is the prize for Best Non-Scripted Entry ($L1,250). There were a number of very interesting pieces, but the one that caught the judges eye the most and to whom this prize is awarded is:
Concentric Shells by ICHIKO MILES

Now, we go to the 2nd Prize for the FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE (L$1,250). There were 11 submissions for this challenge for October, and a number of fascinating ideas. Again a close battle among the top 4 entries…… after much deliberation, 2nd Prize was awarded to:
Art Gallery by DUSTY CANNING

Can everyone please set land to midnight, and CAM to look at the front area and balloons from a distance.

Now for one of the overall winner prizes. Again,as mentioned, very little seperated them the art… as all of you can see…. so many deserving of honour, but in the end, the judges decided that winner for the October Round of the UWA 3D IMAGINE Challenge (L$5,000) is :
Willow by BRYN OH

Willow has a secret, that I hope all of you managed to find 🙂

The final prize for the day, is the winner of the FLAGSHIP CHALLENGE (L$5,000) for October. Now we had the fireworks for the winner of IMAGINE, but we are going to go party at the location of the winner after the announcement, as quadrapop Lane will reveal a special TP panel to take us there where there will be music and dance with our wonderful DJ, Briana Spires (and I ask all of you to please look after her for me). And so, the winner of the FLAGSHIP CHALENGE for October is:
Artstractions Gallery by NYX BREEN

With that the official parts of today have come to a conclusion. We already ahve 15 artworks submitted for November, please do start submitting your works for the November round, and letting your friends know about the competition.