The last few entries have all been about Alaska, so this continues the trend. I hadn’t checked the Ice Alaska site for a while, but I noticed yesterday that the dates for the 2008 World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks had been announced. This is somewhat of a relief, as there has been some question about the future direction of the event recently, at least according to a Fairbanks newspaper article from May. I haven’t been able to find out much else, but it’s a good sign at least.

    The single block and multi-block competitions are the featured events, although there are many other events going on as well. In the past, sculptors could enter either the Realistic or Abstract category in each competition, depending on their sculpture design.

    Single block competition (60 hours, 1 block, 1 or 2 person team): Starting February 26 at 9 am and going until February 28, at 9 pm.

    Awards ceremony: March 1st at 8 pm

    Multi-block competition (132 hours, 10 blocks, 2 to 4 person team): Starting March 2nd at 9 am and going until March 7th at 9 pm.

    Awards ceremony: March 8th at 8 pm.

    Blocks for the Single block competition measure about 5’x8’x3’ while the multi-block blocks measure about 4’x6’x3’. If you’re interested in competing in ‘08, keep checking the Ice Alaska site for entry forms as they don’t seem to be posted yet. However, I did find the forms for the ’07 event, which might be informative. Also, keep in mind that any of this information could easily change, so you need to check with Ice Alaska to make sure of the dates and times if you’re making any travel plans.

    If you’re competing and would like to have your sculpture professionally photographed, contact Patrick Endres as early as possible because he told me that he only has limited availability for new clients. You can see samples of his work on this site as well, which should give you an idea as to why he’s so busy.