Issues with the Physical object comp

This is to inform the membership about a mistake made during the running and grading of the GJW XVII Event Long Graphics/Multimedia - Physical Object competition.

During the running of the comp Thran and I had received many questions about what is permissible under the rules as written and the spirit of the competition itself. Fairly early on into the comp we were asked about food as a medium in the creation of objects. We had agreed that that was not within the spirit of the competition. You could create facsimiles of things like MREs, or ready made rations, because those are objects that militaries use daily, but that was the point: they would have to be facsimiles made to look like they were made in-universe, and not actual food items from the real world. That's where we drew the line. We considered baking a cake or making a meal for your daily table too simple and unoriginal an entry for it to apply.

Unfortunately, after that question came up and the decision was made, we did not announce that decision publicly or in Summit chats on Discord. It went under the radar.

The member who asked the question, and hence was denied by both Thran and me, submitted nothing for this competition while another member, who was not privy to this information, submitted and got full participation for a food item they created. Neither of these members did anything wrong.

The responsibility and the blame is on us, the organizers. I would like to apologize for the oversight. GJWs are such important events that we should have held a higher standard.

We'll be much more diligent in the future. That is all. Carry on.