The High Achievement Awards are moving

On March 9, 2006, the Contemporary Design Group announced its decision to move the Designers High Achievement Awards to Tucson, Arizona in February 2007. The decision to move the presentation of the Awards from Las Vegas to Tucson, was made during two membership meetings held in Tucson in February during the AGTA Show.

Since the Awards were first initiated in 1996, the presentation of the Awards has taken place at a dinner party in Las Vegas during the JCK Show. While over the years there have been many memorable dinners (just ask a CDG member about the Transvestite “entertainment” during the 2000 Awards!)  interest in the event has been lagging, along with attendance, and the costs have increased.

It was proposed by the CDG Board that the presentation of the High Achievement Awards be moved from Las Vegas to Tucson. Here is a brief summary of the discussion of the proposal.

1. Las Vegas has become a difficult venue for many reasons:
     
   1) Restaurants charge premium prices in Las Vegas and we are reluctant to charge $100 a head for dinner.  We have been charging $75 per person for the Awards Dinner in Las Vegas and we are not covering our expenses. Restaurants in Tucson are much more reasonably priced.

2. 2)     There are too many conflicting events in Las Vegas. In Tucson the only real conflict is the Spectrum Awards and the AGTA will work with us to avoid conflicting dates.  In Las Vegas, we are a small fish in a large pond while in Tucson we can stand out more and not have to compete with 3 other events each night.

3. Many of our members no longer exhibit at any of the Las Vegas shows and therefore they do not travel to Las Vegas. However, many members who do not exhibit in Tucson still go to the Tucson Shows to shop. We can serve the needs of more members in Tucson.

After discussion, it was agreed by the CDG Board and the members present, to move the High Achievement Awards to Tucson beginning in Feb. 2007. We will therefore postpone the June 2006 awards dinner.  We will start the nomination procedure in September 2006 so that we can give the award winners ample time to make travel plans. We feel that this move will re-establish the High Achievement Awards as the most important industry acknowledgement given by jewelry designers.  The Board is open to reviewing the decision next year.

We will still organize a CDG dinner in Las Vegas for all of us to network and to keep on top of current issues.

If you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact any one of the Board Members listed below.

Aaron Furlong, President
Glen J. Englebrecht, Vice President
Marylouise Lugosch, Executive Director