Hello, all. Tried sending this to the museum ed listserv, and got a limited response. Trying the "big dog" listserv now to see if I can garner more responses. Thanks for any help; here goes: For part of our annual winter event in early December, our museum is launching a public gingerbread house competition. I have gathered a little information from another place doing this kind of thing, but I'm sure there are lots of do's and don'ts specific to this kind of program/exhibit. So if anyone else does this kind of event and would be willing to share any information--public and/or internal info and documentation (the latter is what I'm really hankering for)--I'd greatly appreciate it. Things like specifications for how participants make the houses, how you take in the houses, how you display them, how you maintain them, how you return them (if you do), how you judge them, do you offer them for sale on a commission basis, etc. Some general info about our competition: * Competition theme will be "Architecture Around the World" based on event theme of "Holidays Around the World" (we currently have the Children Just Like Me exhibit). * Open to the entire public with two divisions: amateur and professional * Both divisions will have entry fees, with the pro division being more costly * "Professional" will be self-selecting (if someone is willing to pay higher entrance fee, they can enter that category) * Two day winter event will be the "opening" of the exhibit which will run for 2-3 weeks (until the houses start falling down) * Looking for a small start--projected for 10 amateur houses and 5 professional * Gift certificate prizes will be given to winners in the amateur division and free marketing (institution-based and periodical) will be given to the professional winners * Looking to have a local "celebrity" chef/restaurant owner be the juror Thanks ahead of time for any help! tim ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tim Gaddie Programs Manager, Minnetrista 1200 North Minnetrista Parkway Muncie IN 47303-2925 765-213-3540, ext. 129 ~ 800-428-5887 Fax: 765-213-3537 ~ www.minnetrista.net <http://www.minnetrista.net> Children's learning "... is dominated by wonder, and cursed be the dullard who destroys wonder." ~Alfred North Whitehead ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).