The B.E.S.T. Way to Finish the Season

5/7/2018

The final event of every B.E.S.T. season is the awards banquet.

The banquet is a fun time for everyone to get together, enjoy a good meal, and actually look and smell decent.

To be honest...we don't recognize half the people when they are all cleaned up.

This is a picture of all the B.E.S.T. participants that attended the banquet.

That is a lot of kids...and a lot of the kids weren't there this weekend.

This is the Knox County crew.

I know...we are in Morrow County...but sometimes they put us in with the Knox County crew because we show at the Knox County Fair.

We just go with the flow...

The main event of the evening is the award recognitions.

Not everyone that attends the banquet is eligible for an award.

However, they give away tons of door prizes and all participants that are present at the banquet are entered into a drawing for a one year lease of an Eby trailer.

Those that attended all 15 B.E.S.T. shows this season were presented with a show pass good for a free entry at one of next year's shows.

Isaac received a belt buckle for accumulating the most points for the season in the Miniature division.

Each show, they are given a certain number of points for how they placed in the ring. These points accumulate throughout the season and the top 2 points winners are awarded a belt buckle.

We knew going into the weekend what awards the boys would receive...except for one.

Each year they have a photography contest. You can enter a picture in three different categories and then they are judged by each age division. They also have an adult division that parents can participate in. A first, second, and third place winner are selected from each age division.

The photography winners are presented with a canvas print of their winning picture.

As soon as we walked in, Walker's eyes turned to the photography awards.

There in the back is his picture....

And it is the biggest one...so he knew he won 1st place.

He was so excited!

I think he was more excited about winning the photography contest for the junior division than he has ever been about winning a buckle.

Walker has never had any direction or training in photography.

At the Ohio Beef Expo, he begged and pleaded and whined until I let him use my camera.

I stood right by his side and watched him like a hawk!

Nobody messes with my camera!

I knew he really wanted to submit some photos for the contest, so I indulged him for about 5 minutes.

He took an amazing picture!

That is me on the end!

Yep...I won first place in the adult division.

I had a really hard time getting a picture. The rules state there are not supposed to be any edits or enhancements to the photos. In this digital age of photography, that is a really hard thing to do.

I have a lot of pictures I love, but I have cropped, lightened, sharpened, etc. to get the picture just the way I like it. That meant I couldn't use any of those pictures.

I am probably my toughest critic, so it took a long time for me to take a picture that I was happy with.

I have never won an award for photography, so I was almost as excited as Walker.

The hardest part has been finding the perfect place to hang the pictures in our house.

I am trying to convince everyone to let me take my picture to work to liven up the boring white walls of my office.

This is the picture that Isaac submitted for the contest. He didn't win anything and is pretty disappointed.

He took this with his phone one afternoon as a storm was starting to roll in.

I love this picture so much, I think I am going to have it printed on a canvas for him to hang in his room.

Yesterday afternoon Isaac was busy learning to use his camera (my old camera). He is bound and determined to take better pictures and win the photography contest next year.

We always love attending the B.E.S.T. banquet and this year was no exception. The Ohio Cattlemen's Association has created a wonderful program, and along with their many sponsors and supporters, they have put a lot of smiles on faces.

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