Every year about this time crafters get extremely busy finalizing their entries for various state fairs.  There are few honors higher than winning a state fair ribbon for a craft.  Many magazines feature state fair winners in special issues and if you are lucky, the patterns for their projects are available in those magazines.  I generally think of this for crochet and sometimes knitting and usually with incredibly beautiful afghans.

If you have a creation in a craft and would like to enter it into competition into a fair, it is time to get the entry submitted.  It isn’t very difficult and could be wonderful exposure for you should you wish to go professional with your work. 

Go to Google.com and type in the state fair you are interested in.  Each fair, of any reasonable size, has its own official site.  Then go to the section that addresses competitions, find your category, and read the rules and regulations.  These are usually in .pdf files so have your Adobe Reader installed.  Applications are often available on the sites as well. 

Give it a shot.  It could be fun.  And even if you don’t win anything, you will have a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Well, until you do it again next year!  And I can promise you will meet new people and make some forever friends.