The 12th Open European Taxidermy Championships® 2021 Budapest, Hungary

Dear friends and colleagues worldwide,

“The 12th European Taxidermy Championships” were held in Budapest, Hungary, September 20 – 27, in the frame of “One with Nature world exhibition” (OWN) and in collaboration with HungExpo.

Overall we can proudly say that the event was a success. And it only became a success because of all the people that worked hard for this: thanks to all the competitors, the judges, the seminar instructors, the sponsors, the ETC® team, the ETC® volunteers, the ETC® committee, OWN and Hung Expo and many others that made a great job in “the background”. Again, a big thank you to all of you!

Judging

We were able, and this was not self-evident under the given circumstances, to convince and invite once again a world-class panel of judges from different continents. Simply the best of the best….and these ladies and gentlemen made a serious and brilliant job from A – Z.

General work quality was better than ever

“What I see here in Budapest is the best general quality I have seen in Europe since I began to judge in here back in 1997.” O-ton Larry Blomquist (owner and editor of “Breakthrough magazine” and owner and producer of the “World Taxidermy Championships®”).

Larry’s impression has been confirmed by many other judges and experts, so, we can proudly state, and this is nothing new, that the work of European taxidermists is worldwide compared on top level. This makes us very happy in the ETC® as bringing quality to the next level is one of our goals.

As a result of the many 1st placements we need to buy more blue ribbons next time as we almost ran out of the blue ones in Budapest.

Seminars, new ETC® record

Truthful to our main goal which is education, sharing knowledge and improving the quality the ETC® seminar program has been massively built out to a record number of 21 sessions in a wide variety of different topics and interesting themes. (…to compare: in Salzburg 2018, we were able to offer 14 seminars). Despite of different last-minute cancellations of instructors due to the COVID 19 situation, we were able to find replacements or improvising on place, so that we could uphold this impressive number! Never before we got so many positive feedbacks regarding the quality and quantity! Big compliment to all instructors and involved persons who have contributed to this amazing program!

Number of entries and participants was higher than we could hope for

The COVID 19 made it very, very uncertain that there would even be a Championship in 2021. Only a few months before the scheduled starting date, the “ugly COVID 19 cloud” slowly faded away. But still, many taxidermists were not able to come due to restrictions in their own country, and it was too late for many taxidermists to start the preparations.

So we believe that the COVID 19 is main responsible that we did not make a new entry record in 2021. Finally 120 participants out of more than 30 (!) different Nations, with a total of 217 entries found their way to Budapest!

New record of visitors

The taxidermy entries has been seen by more people than ever in ETC® history. After 27th September, where the official ETC® 2021 ended, most entries were displayed at the OWN World Exhibition in Budapest until 14th October. After official published numbers from OWN, 750’000 visitors from all over the world, have seen and admired our high-quality ETC® exhibition! Friends, this is huge…and will for sure have a positive impact on our beloved art, passion and work.

Entries and quality in the Novice Division

In the past, the Novice Division was usually not represented with many entries – and the quality was often beginner-like. That has changed in the meantime! There are many good to very good pieces in the Novice Division. So obviously, this division has become more popular – which is precisely what ETC® wants: the Championships is also about to attract a new generation into taxidermy.

Furthermore, we were pleased to see so many young women interested in taxidermy. We take this as a sign that taxidermy is becoming more and more popular and respected as an art in our general society?

The considerable interest for entries in the Novice Division makes us happy and we consider adding more prizes in this division.

Special Awards, new record of prize money

Compared to the last edition, we could maintain the number of these awards by 19, which was all other than self-evident in such uncertain times. Due to some new sponsors, very generous people, we even were able to come to a new record of donated money and gifts! Thanks a lot to all sponsors who helped here so tremendously to make the ETC® that attractive!

New ETC® registration program

The entire registration process (from the very beginning with the brand new online registration system to handing in and processing the entries) went smoothly. Thanks to our IT-expert and webmaster Stephen Guild with his creative ideas, knowledge and support.

Sending home program

As already mentioned, and for the first time in ETC® history, the show wasn’t over when we closed our doors by 27th September. OWN urged us to work out a concept to leave the entries on display for the full duration. That’s what we did, because we quickly have seen the big potential behind, for the whole taxidermy community….and all who participated in the program profited with massive prize reductions! For all participants a massive benefit in many ways, for us maybe more a huge additional task….causing the one or the other sleepless night! But that’s how ETC® works for you, thanks for appreciating it!

Last but not least, thanks to all competitors and participants, once again.

It’s you guys in first priority, who are giving ETC® a face and make it successful!

In that sense we wish you all the best and many happy hours…and of course we are looking forward to meet you all again at the next edition.

 

Kind regards…and stay tuned

The ETC® management team
CH-Aegerten, November 2, 2021