November 7, 2007
How quickly time flies! The eXceL Awards entry deadline is only 2 ½ months away. We continue to receive requests for materials, and we do still have limited quantities available. If you are a teacher interested in sharing this opportunity with your students and you would like to receive brochures, posters or a DVD of highlights from the 2007 state finals, send an e-mail to Teresa.Koopman@infarmbureau.com with that information.

We are very excited to let you know that we now have a presence on MySpace! This has allowed us the opportunity to post entire state finals winning performances for the music, video, and performance categories. Because of time and space limitations, we have not had the opportunity to put those on our home website or on the DVD, but if you would like to see the full performances, visit www.myspace.com/excelawards. You will also be able to view the winning 2-D and 3-D images there, which are also located on our here.

Lots of you have asked about the entry forms. As you may have noticed, the entry form is not yet live on the site. It will not be a printable blank form, but rather an e-form which will be live no later than January 1, 2008 – possibly sooner, but definitely by January 1st. You will complete and submit the information online, which will load the information in a database which we use solely for the eXceL Awards. When the form is complete and submitted, it will bring up a printable version of your entry form. It is important that you be connected to a printer, because you will need to print that form as you, any partners in your entry, and a teacher or administrator will need to sign it! You’ll attach this signed form to your physical entry (and remember, each entry needs its own entry form), and bring it to your local Indiana Farm Bureau office during business hours between January 18th and 25th of 2008. This will help us by cutting down on data entry errors and will expedite our unpacking and judging processes.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!