2024 Cookie Art Competition Live Q&A Replay with Julia and Judge Beatriz Muller - May 15, 2024

On May 15, I had the pleasure of sitting down with judge and Gold Sponsor Beatriz Muller (link below) for a chat all about the judging process behind the 2024 Julia M. Usher’s Cookie Art Competition™. Beatriz is the judging team's resident 3-D cookie expert, having competed in and won countless gingerbread competitions herself! In this replay of our live chat, Beatriz shares tips for getting started on your entry (especially great for first-time entrants!) and making your entry stand out. She also touches on typical pitfalls to avoid. This session is truly a GOLD MINE OF ADVICE, making it a definite must-watch no matter where you are in your entry-creation process!
And, remember, there's still PLENTY OF TIME to submit an entry, as ENTRIES AREN'T DUE UNTIL JUNE 30, 2024. In addition to the possibility of winning a portion of our record-level prizes ($25,500+), you'll learn so much from the feedback provided by Beatriz and the other judges!
🔗 FOR THE COMPETITION RULES AND REGISTRATION LINK, PLEASE
VISIT THE COMPETITION OVERVIEW POST ON COOKIE CONNECTION: cookieconnection.juliausher.c...
🔗 VISIT BEATRIZ'S SITE: gingerneers.com
P.S. My apologies for the transmission delays and syncing issues in some areas of the video. Again, the video was originally filmed live, and its recording quality was subject to internet connections at the time. All of Beatriz's and my key messages were captured, however!

[@thomaxinedixon9852]

Beatrice, you do absolutely beautiful gingerbread works❤

[@thomaxinedixon9852]

So entries need to be a certain height

[@JuliaMUsher]

No, there is no exact height specification - I am not sure where you got that impression. For the 2-D Cookie and 3-D Cookie categories, the entries just need to fit within a certain space/area. So for 2-D Cookie, the entire entry must be no smaller than 1 x 1 foot (30 x 30 cm) and no bigger than 3 x 3 feet (91 x 91 cm). These measurements relate to the cookie or cookie composition and exclude any inedible baseboard, and are the width and length of the entry. There is no height constraint since they are flat cookies. For 3-D Cookie, a minimum of 12 decorated cookies must comprise this construction; there is no maximum cookie count. The cookies in the entry needn’t be flat; they can also be contoured, embossed, molded, modeled, sculpted, or otherwise shaped. The entire entry must fit into a 2 x 2 x 3-foot-tall (61 x 61 x 91-cm-tall, L x W x H) area. The entry may be smaller than this area, but it cannot be larger. Again, these dimensions relate to the cookie structure and exclude any inedible baseboard. So, again, there is NOT an exact height requirement, just requirements about the area/volume that the entry cannot exceed. And in the case of 2-D Cookie, the entry must also exceed the minimum 1 x 1-foot area. All of these details are spelled out in the rules in the Competition Overview post (link in the video description) for future reference, if needed. We have these constraints to ensure that entries are relatively apples-to-apples in terms of size, as it can be hard to evaluate a miniature entry against a ginormous one! :)