Students shine at AWFS
The top woodworking programs in the U.S. were well represented at the Fresh Wood Student Competition at the 2023 AWFS Fair.
The top woodworking programs in the U.S. were well represented at the Fresh Wood Student Competition at the 2023 AWFS Fair in Las Vegas.
The competition featured 40 finalists, selected from 142 entries. Prizes were awarded to first, second and honorable mention winners in six categories at the high school and post-secondary levels.
While prizes and a cool trophy were part of the excitement, the experience itself was equally important, according to Alexander Murren Doherty of Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, Calif., who won the People’s Choice Award and the Seating category for a reproduction of Sam Maloof’s walnut rocking chair.
“I talked to many incredible people at AWFS, from students just like me, to people who have built furniture all their lives. I am incredibly happy that I took on the challenge I did, and I am even more happy that I was able to be a part of such a fantastic experience. I plan to one day return as a post-secondary student and do it all over again,” Murren Doherty said in an interview with Woodshop News.
Gage Day, representing Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, won the Best of Show award and Tables category for Mind Winder, a bent-laminated piece. Day also won the High School Special Theme: Small Projects category for a sculptured vessel called Vertigo.
Shepherd Zambonelli of Selkirk College in Nelson, B.C., received the Judge’s Nod from Ethan Abramson, Brian Boggs, Lois Snyder, Thomas Tuck, and Jamie Yocono after tying for Best of Show. His Apothecary Cabinet also won the Post-Secondary Case Goods category.
Other category winners were Bryce Sanford of Oceanside (Calif.) High School; Ethan Kleen of Lincoln (Neb.) East High School; Ethan McWillis or Corner Canyon High School; Boyd Boyd of the Vermont Woodworking School at Northern Vermont University; Ainsley Bauer of the University of Idaho; Anneliese King of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship; Jeremy Zerger of the ArtCenter College of Design, and Shirley Hsu of Cerritos College.
This article was originally published in the October 2023 issue.
