On behalf of Eric Nakamura and Raymond Choy, we would like to thank all of you who participated in the Qee Art Contest. Believe us, judging was NOT as easy as we had thought. Every entry was amazing and it was pretty evident that many of you had put a lot of time, effort and creativity into your entry. Eric and Raymond spent a long time reviewing all 47 bears summited to us. In selecting a winner, they took into account overall design and concept, the ability and speed to mass produce the winning bear, originality, innovation and of course, creativity - not only in design, but in concept.

The overall winner, Best in Class, went to Brandon Hahn of Ohio. His design, "Frog", was selected based on his innovative creativity to actually turn the Qee into something entirely unique. He turned the head backward, painted frog eyes on the ears, and the part that caught our attention is that Brandon has made attachments to the hands and feet that can be put on/off the Qee...and the paint job wasn't bad either. Brandon will receive a $500 cash prize from interTrend Communicaitons.

As we said, the competition was tough, and Eric and Raymond decided to also select an Honorable Mention winner, whose bear will also be sold. That winner is Dawn States from Oregon. Simply put by Eric, "... awesome work. She just did a great paint job" for her painting of the Qee. Dawn used natural, organic tone color to paint the Qee: green for the overall body, blue for the birds, brown for tree branch, and light pink for face, hand and flowers. Dawn also add an interesting twist to the painting by adding a cute little monster on the back of the Qee. Dawn will receive a special prize package from Giant Robot and Toy2R.