This past weekend was the Societe Culinaire Philanthropique Cake/Culinary competition at the Javits Center in NY. I spent weeks in preparation. Hundreds of dollars, hundreds of hours, a couple sleepless nights.
I was competing for the French Government medal in pastry exhibit. Anyway....I won a first place ribbon for my table, but unfortunatley was disqualified for the medal becasue of a technicality that I should have clarified beforehand.

I made a sugarpiece (a very ornate sculpted shoe on a carved pillow cake...no molds, all hand painted, etc...) which was one of 5 elements of the table. Unfortunately, they wanted a "cooked" sugar (poured, blown, etc..) piece...not a pastillage or gumpaste piece.

So, just a note to all.....some competitions allow gumpaste....obviously, some do not......always ask beforehand....even if it seems obvious to you. I lost out on the chance of a medal and a hefty check that went with it.

Oh I'm so sorry!!! Please accept my heartfelt feelings for your stunning disqualification resulting in loss. It was not in writing? In the rules? They just made it up on the spot??

Wow! I feel so bad for you. Thank you for the reminder to read the fine print.

K8, sounds almost like your wonderful experience. Was this rule in writing? Because if not, you should fight for your medal. You earned it, you deserve it.

Your shoe is wonderful--tremendous workmanship.

If I'm not careful--I'll take another downward header on my fiasco--I was really touched that you remembered Just For Fun--thank you.

But yes I mean wow I do know what it's like.

But Adven!!! I did a shoe too!!! AGHHHHH!!!!!!!

I think it's so wrong for officials to play mind games like that, Adven, so sorry. Pm me if you need a very understanding ear. I was seriously depressed for a while.

Your work is amazing.

One always deserves a fair shake at a minimum huh.

Of course you can;t know for sure that you would have won, but not winning is one thing and being disqualified by an "implied" rule is upsetting, and IMO unfair.

So did you get to keep your ribbon at least?

Oh! How terrible! That's awesome too though...you DID win...you were definitely the chosen winner....I'm sorry the rules weren't clearer.

It really is a shame that you were disqualified for something that wasnt clear. I really would of wrote a letter to the institute stating that it was not clear on the rules that it clearly stated only Sugar, not pulled or gumpaste. If they are letting non-culinary students complete, they cant assume that everyone knows which sugar they want. And Im sure it wont really do much, but it might make them think twice about their rules and how their written.
Its not that your discretting anyone, but if it was the only thing that caused you to not, then I think it should be brought up.
I will not go into the long speal about my experiences and the heated threads on here about the whole subject. Just things like that should be more clear. You can atleast take away that you challenged yourself and your work and have taken away a learning experience and a gorgeous piece.

It is a stunning piece and you deserve MAD props for that!

I will say, however, in my experience, in a pastry competition that is not specifically related to cake, "sugar" or "sugar work" generally refers to pulled, poured or blown sugar, sometimes in combination with pastillage elements (but not with pastillage as the sole medium), but rarely refers to gumpaste and/or fondant. Also, higher points are usually given for use of multiple techniques on a single piece (such as pastillage with blown and poured sugar all in one display).

I agree that they should have been specific in their written copy of the rules, and it really blows (pardon my french lol), that you missed out by such a narrow margin.

Congrats on you first place ribbon--still a great accomplishment!