The 9th Open European Taxidermy Championships® 2014 Longarone, Italy
From April 22 – 27, 2014 the European Taxidermy Championships® took place in Longarone/ Italy after 2002, 2006 and 2010 for the fourth time. The championships with the exhibition and the taxidermy suppliers booths were embedded in the international hunting, fishing and outdoor fair „Caccia, Pesca, Natura”. 98 competitors out of 14 nations with 209 entries found the way to Italy. Separated into the divisions, we had 37 entries in the Novice Division, 104 in the Professional Division, 39 in the Masters Division and 15 in the Collective Artists Division which were judged by an international judges team. In addition 14 entries competed in the Division of Excellence. The winners of this division were chosen by the Master Division competitors. It was a great challenge for the host ATI (Italian Taxidermy Association) as well as for the European Taxidermy Federation (ETF) as organizer. In front of the 9th ETC®, the ETC® Committee (Matthias Fahrni, Berend Koch and Iginio Bressan) developed important novelties like the ETC® Rules & Regulations, the ETC® Species Lists or the new ETC® Ribbons and Places system. These changes, together with the proven Italian organisation team around Iginio Bressan (ATI President) made this year ETC® very successful. At the registration desk, Francesca de Conti with her assistant Emily and Helen Fahrni were always supporting the registrants while the chairmen Berend Koch and Christoph Meier checked the entries, the chosen categories and divisions and the paperwork. The expected teething troubles with the established novelties were liberally solved in the competitor’s favour by the competition regulatory committee. While the judging time was running from Wednesday until Friday, there was offered a program with three bird taxidermy- and three mammal taxidermy seminars, mostly held by talented competitors. The award banquet with the price giving ceremony took place on Saturday evening at Castel Brando, an old Venetian castle in a dignified surrounding. Between the different fine meals, the awards and special awards were given out to the competitors together with the acknowledgements to the officials and helpers. The general meetings of ATI and ETF were held on Sunday and in the evening, the participants packed their entries safe in boxes and most of them started their trip home in all directions, often with the promise to meet again next year in Oulu/Finland, where the 10th European Taxidermy Championships® will take place.
ETC® Committee, Berend Koch, May 2014