Full Spectrum
AGTA celebrates the richness of colored gemstone jewelry with its 2008 Spectrum Awards.
-- JCK-Jewelers Circular Keystone, 2/1/2008
The 2008 AGTA Spectrum Awards competition, hosted by the American Gem Trade Association, has announced this year's winners. The awards will be presented during the 2008 AGTA GemFair Tucson, to be held Feb. 6–11 at the Tucson Convention Center in Tucson, Ariz., and winning entries will be displayed during the show. Winners will be recognized during the AGTA Dinner Dance and Awards Gala.
Entries were judged on overall beauty and wearability, innovative design, effective use of materials, quality of gemstones, quality of workmanship, broad-based consumer appeal, and potential to generate positive publicity for natural colored gemstones. Spectrum Award categories included Bridal, Business/Day, Classical, Evening, and Men's Wear.
AGTA Cutting Edge Awards honor excellence and creativity in the lapidary arts, including natural colored gemstones and cultured pearls, carvings, other gem materials, and objects of art in the United States and Canada. Categories included Open Category – Classic Gemstone Division, Open Category – All Other Faceted Gemstones Division, Open Category – Phenomenal Gemstones Division, Pairs & Suites, Faceting, Carving, Combination, and Objects of Art.
All designs that qualified for the Spectrum Awards competition were considered for Manufacturing Honors. This award celebrates outstanding use of colored gemstones and cultured pearls in jewelry appropriate to be manufactured in production quantities.
Fashion Forward Honors recognizes the outstanding use of colored gemstone and/or cultured pearl beads in artful, trendsetting jewelry. All necklaces, earrings, bracelets, or other jewelry that qualified for judging in the AGTA Spectrum Awards competition automatically qualified for Fashion Forward Honors judging.
Judges for the 2008 competition included Jane Bohan, Jane Bohan Inc.; Peter Roth, David Yurman; Andrea Linett, Lucky magazine; and Rudi Wobito, Wobito Gems Ltd.
For more information about the 2008 AGTA GemFair Tucson or the AGTA Dinner Dance and Awards Gala, call (800) 972-1162 or visit www.agta.org. For inquiries regarding the AGTA Spectrum Awards competition, call (800) 972-1162.
