Announcement - Competition finalists.

Furthermore, the judges of the competition were independent. The final five entries were chosen by people that had no vested interest in the outcome and the final draw was was made by somebody who was absolutely independent, had no say in the competition and didn't see the entry submissions or even discuss the entries beforehand.

The pictures presented were taken as it was happening. As you can see, the Evans Marketing Manager is not looking at the entries and Andy is facing the front. Those are live shots.
 
MrInsanePolack said:
I'm sorry, but I feel I must say something.
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& that's fine - really, it is. I can see that the optics aren't perfect here, so if you're thinking it, then others will be too, & I'm pleased to have the opportunity to explain.

Jannis submitted his own video, via his own email, his own youtube account. The only thing David did was post his video up on this forum. Posting on this forum was not part of the submission process, although any contestant was free to do so.

I have/had no influence over the judges whatsoever. They worked to the brief, & took their decisions accordingly. Once the five finalists were decided (by a mechanism of awarding points for 1st, 2nd, & 3rd in each category) by adding the judges scores together, the decision was down to a final draw.

Deciding the winner by random draw was the only way I could think of to come to a decision amongst finalists. Making this competition inclusive was always important to us, & asking anyone to come to a judging decision comparing a beginner to a professional is pretty much asking the impossible, especially in a competition without defined technical performance criteria.

The draw was as fair as I can imagine. Evans staff have no part in this process. The draw was performed in the presence of witnesses. Each name strip was cut into even size pieces then loosely folded multiple times. The pieces were mixed around, & Elaine couldn't see inside the case.

All in all, several submissions were from people who know me through one mechanism or another. There's no way that could be allowed to influence the results, & nor was that the case.

Ultimately, I can't prove or disprove anything. All I can ask is that my word is taken as assurance. Anyone who knows me realises just how principled a person I am, & frankly, what has anyone involved got to gain through manipulating a result? I still have to give away a valuable drum. There's no material gain potential within anyone who had any influence over this, & given a free hand, I certainly wouldn't choose a path that I know might make my life more difficult than it already is.
 
I don't think anyone is complaining about the final draw of 5 and how that was handled but in the fact the under 16 entry was a student of someone who made almost the same video. And it does seem fishy that Daves video is now gone. I wasn't involved so to me it matters not but the fact that Daves student wasn't a member of Drummerworld , although that may not have been in the rules, the fact that someone in Drummerworld who couldn't post helped someone not a member post. That said who knows how many people got help. I'm not sure. I respect Andy at his word and give him props for even going out on a limb to host such an event.
 
GRUNTERSDAD said:
I don't think anyone is complaining about the final draw of 5 and how that was handled but in the fact the under 16 entry was a student of someone who made almost the same video. And it does seem fishy that Daves video is now gone. I wasn't involved so to me it matters not but the fact that Daves student wasn't a member of Drummerworld , although that may not have been in the rules, the fact that someone in Drummerworld who couldn't post helped someone not a member post. That said who knows how many people got help. I'm not sure. I respect Andy at his word and give him props for even going out on a limb to host such an event.
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I'm assuming David removed his video because it no longer served a purpose. Being a member of Drummerworld forum was not an entry requirement. In fact, over half the entrants had nothing to do with this forum. I'm assuming David posted his student's entry here because he was proud of his student's achievement.
 
keep it simple said:
I'm assuming David removed his video because it no longer served a purpose. Being a member of Drummerworld forum was not an entry requirement. In fact, over half the entrants had nothing to do with this forum. I'm assuming David posted his student's entry here because he was proud of his student's achievement.
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Correct - I'm very proud of my student. I thought, as he's not on drummerworld, but most entries were posted here for entertainment, I should post it.
 
And Gentlemen I have no problem with that. As I said everyone could have gotten help.
 
GRUNTERSDAD said:
And Gentlemen I have no problem with that. As I said everyone could have gotten help.
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Yeah, God helped me with my entry.
And that should have given me the best advantage.

.
 
The rules say "play your own composition" or something to that effect. Jannis came up with his own composition, even if his teacher gave him some ideas on what to do. If the videos use similar techniques, but are not rhythmically identical then it's Jannis' own composition, so the entry is eligible.

Congrats to him, eh.
 
First, I have no doubt that the draw was fair. The thing that made me think twice about the whole thing was the statement " Ok, I don't know if I'm supposed to post this - but here's an entry from my student". This sounds like a submission from someone who knows they are no longer able to submit. If Jannis did in fact submit his own entry, and David was just posting it to show it off then I am all good with that. The wording can be taken a few different ways. As I said earlier I am not trying to stir the pot. I just felt like I had to say something, as this is a coincidence, because if I didn't it would continue to irk me.
 
I'm certain that was the case, Mr IP. There had been the thread in which Andy had posted the videos that had come in, hadn't there? He hadn't entered any of those into the competition, he just put them up in here, and then it was agreed that entries shouldn't be published before the category winners were announced. That's what I understood David to mean when he said he didn't know if he should post the submission.

FWIW, I think you only said what a lot of other people must have been thinking, though. I hope you and they are ok now.
 
Magenta said:
I'm certain that was the case, Mr IP. There had been the thread in which Andy had posted the videos that had come in, hadn't there? He hadn't entered any of those into the competition, he just put them up in here, and then it was agreed that entries shouldn't be published before the category winners were announced. That's what I understood David to mean when he said he didn't know if he should post the submission.

FWIW, I think you only said what a lot of other people must have been thinking, though. I hope you and they are ok now.
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Yes, I am okay with it. Sometimes things just seem too good to be true and I must question them. Call it a character flaw if you will, I find it to be a good way to get answers to questions I have.

Hollywood Jim said:
Yeah, God helped me with my entry.
And that should have given me the best advantage.

.
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If it means anything Jim, your blowing into the snare entry was by far my favorite. It had a very Hitchcock type feel to it. I really enjoyed it.
 
I just want to say that this competition has served its purpose well as a promotional campaign for Guru. I can't stop thinking about owning, at the very least, a Guru snare.

Of course, I have no business owning such an expensive, immaculate instrument. I'm a biologist, for pete's sake. It's not like I'm the drummer of Little Dragon or some other ultra-hip band, but goodness gracious, those are some beautiful-sounding drums.

Before the contest, I was an admirer, but it didn't seem realistic to purchase a Guru. Now, I'm just trying to figure out how to make it happen.

Cheers for hosting such a cool competition, and I can assure you that it worked.
 
Eand said:
Of course, I have no business owning such an expensive, immaculate instrument. I'm a biologist, for pete's sake. It's not like I'm the drummer of Little Dragon or some other ultra-hip band, but goodness gracious, those are some beautiful-sounding drums.
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Jesus, my friend. If we were to flip that logic, you'd have drummers the world over saying "I'm a drummer, for pete's sake. It's not like I'm worthy of possessing a gene. But goodness gracious, those are some pretty important genes for ensuring the continuing life of mankind"

If you're worthy of hitting a drum, it might as well be a Guru as anything else. :)
 
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Eand said:
Cheers for hosting such a cool competition, and I can assure you that it worked.
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Thank you so much for this, & also for your superb entry. Just your exposure to the mosquitos was enough to garner total respect! ;)

Seriously though, of course, I was hoping this competition would be well received, but wider marketing of the Guru brand was never a primary consideration. If you want something to spread far & wide, then making it embarrassingly easy to enter is a key feature. This competition was the polar opposite of that. My intention was to make the entry process thought provoking for those entering, & the submissions interesting for those spectating from the outside. Ultimately, I wanted the competition to relate directly to the prize.

Pocket-full-of-gold said:
If you're worthy of hitting a drum, it might as well be a Guru as anything else. :)
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I might modify that for T shirt purposes :)

BacteriumFendYoke said:
The Guru GAS is strong and worthwhile.
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Noble cause even? ;)
 
Congrats to Mr. Janis Vernier.

That is a beautiful snare anyone would be proud to own.

I just wish I'd have had the time to get a video together...............next time!

Andy, thanks for doing this.....................Personally I think it was a great idea, and hopefully it helps out your company too.
 
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