Hi, all! I wanted to take a moment to thank the amazingly generous team of sponsors who stepped up (beyond my wildest dreams!) to support Julia M. Usher's 3-D Cookie Art Competition™ at the Show Me Sweets show (July 13-14) in St. Charles, MO, USA. (The competition also has an awesome 2-D category, but I'm just talking about the 3-D one now.)
As you probably know by now, my 3-D cookie competition is being turned into a TV documentary that will air later this year or next on a major TV network. It is a very exciting moment for the cookie community - an unparalleled opportunity to cast the spotlight on cookie artists, who, for too long, have gone unmentioned and unnoticed by mainstream media. (It's OUR time, cookie people! Seize the day! You can still enter 'til July 1!) 
What's more, it's a great opportunity for entrants to reap big rewards for their cookie art! Thanks to these generous sponsors, we have topped our target of $5,000 in both cash and product prizes. Now, the total prize package (to be shared among first-, second-, and third-place winners in the 3-D category) is a whopping $10,000 - of which about $5,400 is cash. The rest is comprised of wonderful products, gift certificates, and services, like admission to cookie classes with well-known decorators. For the sake of complete transparency, it's important to point out that all sponsor donations go toward enhancing the prize packages for winners. None of these donations will fund other aspects of the show or competition.
Please join me in giving these businesses and individuals a HUGE thank-you and round of applause for supporting our community in this way!
First, our Gold Sponsors, of which there are nine super generous enterprises:
- Confection Couture Stencils, Jim Randolph
- Cosmopolitan Events, Josie Littlepage and Chasley Bradbury
- Creative Cookier, Ginny and Doug Levack
- Décorum, Tim Kent and Haley Sturguess
- SugarChat Cookie Studio, Cynthia Raven
- SugarVeil, Michele Hester
- The Colorful Cookie, Nancy Westfall
- You Can Call Me Sweetie, Sandie Beltran
- Yours Truly, Julia M. Usher
And, now for our silver sponsors - another truly amazing bunch of cookie supporters:
- BRP Box Shop, Kip Simpson
- Country Kitchen SweetArt, Autumn Carpenter
- Flour Box Bakery, Anne Yorks
- Telebaker, Tina Shedd
As an aside, 3-D competition registrations are also at an all-time high (over 50!), and casting for featured spots in the documentary is complete. I'm now keeping busy with some well-known and extremely talented St. Louis-based event planners decking out my vendor booth! It has tripled in size to include a fabulous cookie lounge and selfie station, where showgoers can hang out, talk cookies, get photos with their fave cookiers, and more! Our Gold Sponsors will also be featured on a specially designed wall of this booth. (Stay tuned - I hope to share some sneak peeks of my new booth in the coming weeks!)
Trophies and massive oversized faux checks (there will also be real ones 
) are also already on hand, just waiting for me to announce the winners in July!
And with that, one last round of applause to our sponsors, and best of luck to the entrants! 
I can't wait to meet you in St. Louis, as the saying goes! It's going to be an incredible show!
