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Nine gold medals were awarded at this year's Violin Society of America international makers' competition, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, from 15-21 September. Jeff Phillips received a gold medal in the violin category for tone and workmanship - his third in a row, having won golds in both 2010 and 2012 in that category. He also received a silver medal for workmanship in the viola category. Other golds for instruments went to Collin Gallahue (violin), Jason Viseltear (viola) and Michael Doran (cello). All four makers are based in the US. For the second time running, no gold medal was awarded in the double bass section, nor was gold bestowed in the quartet category.

French archetiers Emmanuel Begin and Eric Fournier were the most successful entrants in the bow making section: Begin won gold for a violin bow, while Fournier won for both viola and cello bows. A gold for bass bow was awarded to both Begin and Fournier jointly. A second gold in the category went to Susan Lipkins, who in 2012 became the first female bow maker to win gold in the bass bow division.

For this year's competition, a total of 542 entries were submitted by 312 makers in 26 countries. They comprised 246 violins, 110 violas, 69 cellos, 9 double basses, 80 bows and 28 quartets. In total, 26 medals and 65 certificates of merit were awarded. The number of golds was down from 2012, when 16 were awarded - 5 for instruments and 11 for bows.

Full list of winners:

VIOLIN

Gold Medal for Tone & Workmanship

Jeff Phillips

Gold Medal

Collin Gallahue

Silver Medal for Workmanship

Stephan Von Baehr & Paul Belin

Philip Valentin Ihle

Andrew Ryan

Silver Medal for Tone

Damon Gray

Xuelin Zhang

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

Stephen Quinney

Wei-Xian Zhu

Georg Meiwes

George Yu

Ryan Soltis

John Young

Stefan Lindholm

Haide Lin & Zu Liang Wu

Certificate of Merit for Tone

Paul Crowley

Artur Friedhoff

Stanley Kiernoziak

Hongbai Qin

Zhen Nian Wang

George Yu

VIOLA

Gold Medal

Jason Viseltear

Silver Medal for Workmanship

Petio H Kostov

Jeff Phillips

Silver Medal for Tone

Edwin Halloran

James Robinson

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

Borja Bernabeau

Paul Crowley

Shi Liao & Li Xiu Ding

Zi Qiu Li

Paul Noulet

Ryan Soltis

Isabelle Wilbaux & Louis Gord

Ming-Jiang Zhu

Certificate of Merit for Tone

Zhi Xin Huang

Guy Cole

Antonio Donato

Anton Domozhyrov

Mark Hough

Yang Kai

Zhen Hua Ling

Steven M McCann

Georg Meiwes

Jeffrey S Robinson

Ryan Soltis

Ken Su

Isabelle Wilbaux & Louis Gord

Ming-Jiang Zhu

CELLO

Gold Medal

Michael Doran

Silver Medal for Workmanship

Rainer Beilharz

Silver Medal for Tone

Stephan Von Baehr & Paul Belin

Andrew Carruthers

Haide Lin & Zu Liang Wu

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

Petio H Kostov

Fabienne Gauchet

Duncan MacDonald

Georg Meiwes

Certificate of Merit for Tone

Kevin Chapin

Stanley Kiernoziak

Michael Lochner

Zai-Xing Sheng

Ben Wilke

BASS

Silver Medal for Tone

William Lakeburg

Christopher Savino

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

Guy Cole

Roger Graham Hargrave & Rene Zaal

Certificate of Merit for Tone

Seth Kimmel

QUARTET

Silver Medal for Tone

Zhen Nian Wang

Gary Garavaglia

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

Borja Bernabeau

Shi Liao & Li Xiu Ding

Georg Meiwes

Jason Viseltear

Certificate of Merit for Tone

Stanley Kiernoziak

Ian McWilliams

Paul Noulet

VIOLIN BOW

Gold Medal

Emmanuel Begin

Certificate of Merit

Victor Bernard

Eric Fournier

Eric Gagne

VIOLA BOW

Gold Medal

Eric Fournier

Certificate of Merit

John Aniano

Emmanuel Begin

Bernd Etzler

CELLO BOW

Gold Medal

Eric Fournier

Certificate of Merit

Emmanuel Begin

Bernd Etzler

Eric Gagne

BASS BOW

Gold Medal

Emmanuel Begin & Eric Fournier

Susan Lipkins

Certificate of Merit

Boris Fritsch

Photo: New Instrument Exhibit, VSA Convention 2014

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