To Tom Mitchell:
Thank you for your overview of the challenges of this year’s competition and of the missing Novice Class stone entries. There are seemingly a few leads left to follow but I am pragmatic in that if the stones have been missing for this period of time that that speaks volumes about ‘re-finding’ them.
It has been suggested that entrants be allowed to recut and resubmit new stones and I would like to ask that those involved in such a decision from the Guild to please give that option consideration. With the new designs for 2020 being released soon, I understand the overlap would be a little confusing but I think it is an important gesture to those who have been denied the judging of work they all put so much effort into. It won’t be a perfect solution but might be the best one available.
Perhaps giving that specific, small group a three month window to recut stones would give them adequate time without rushing and still leave them time to go on and work on entries for the 2020 competition. And if such a decision were to be announced and made effective starting December 1st, that would give them a February 1st deadline to have the submissions postmarked.
I remember the enthusiasm of submitting my first stone for competition and can only imagine the disappointment of the entrants. It is pretty obvious the Guild itself did not lose the stones in question but they have an opportunity to help make this right.