Well WOW’s 21st is offi­cial­ly over, although the dec­o­ra­tions from the par­ty are still up with the frufru pink tutu posters adorn­ing bus stops around Welly.  Now is the time to cash up, make assess­ments and ask the peren­ni­al ques­tion: Fab or Fug? 

Last year a Welling­ton­ian took out the top spot with a leather war­rior bird queen that was tru­ly a‑may-zing, go the home team!  This year the supreme gong went to Alaskan David Walk­er for his entry ‘Lady of the Wood’, made entire­ly of wood (even the curly blonde wig was made from wood shav­ings).  David is a car­pen­ter by trade and has made the long trip from Alas­ka for the last three years to enter WOW.  Welling­to­ni­ans Hay­ley May and Fiona Christie won the run­ner up to the Mon­tana Supreme Award and the top prize in the Gen‑i Cre­ative Excel­lence Award sec­tion, themed “fold” this year, with an entry enti­tled ‘Sec­ond Skin’.

For the Welling­ton­ista, WOW sea­son is a chance for us to frock up, drink plen­ty of the spon­sor’s best and observe the goings on in the media room; rub­bing shoul­ders with old friends in new media and the seri­ous estab­lished media types who have dead­lines and pay­checks that stop the wine and glam­our from going to their heads.  The organ­i­sa­tion­al heft involved in putting on such a show is tru­ly some­thing and we would love to have gan­der at rehearsals next year, after all who does­n’t love a back­stage pass.

To hon­our all of the sweat, strate­gis­ing and ink spilled on WOW on the occa­sion of its 21st birth­day we would like to give some linky-love to what oth­ers have writ­ten about this year’s show.

Let us know of any oth­er inter­est­ing angles on this year’s WOW, did your Aunt Camil­la come to Welly espe­cial­ly?  Did you go your­self?  Would you like to sub­mit a WOW bin­go board (in the spir­it of hip­ster bin­go) for us to take next year?

Let us know in the com­ments.