A new design contest highlights the unique beauty of American pearls

Earlier this year, the American Pearl Company of Nashville, Tenn., launched a new jewelry competition. The First Annual Vision Awards: A Pearl Design Contest was designed to promote the beauty of American natural and cultured pearls. Designers from around the world were invited to enter. Seventy U.S. entries and one Swiss were received. All were on display at The JCK Show in Las Vegas in June, where the winners were announced. (Some of the pieces are shown on p. 98 of the September 1995 issue of JCK.)

The winners:

First: Ellen Bear of Buddy Bear Jewelers.

Second: Helen Ringus of Eurocraft Jewelry.

Third: Scott Anthony Gauthier of Jewelry by Gauthier.

Honorable mentions: Buddy Bear of Buddy Bear Jewelers and George Wise of Wise Family Jewelers.

Merit recognition: Kathy Chan of Germano Gallery, Kristen Kampsula of Kristen Kampsula, Tony Chi Chuen Pang of Princess Pride Creations, Kyriakos Somos of Somos Creations and Marie Swartz of Bijoux.