Paul Crafford

Sour grapes! That is all i have to say. I really tried my best to make the finals, but I didn't. I can probably think up a million different excuses why i didn't make the cut, but in the end it comes down to my design and the work I put into it.
These "klakouse" are just too closed-minded to rate their own creativity or question their "brilliance".

Thanks for the cool competition.
See you guys next year.

Paul Crafford

Darren & Suzette

Dear Bob & the TEAM@TELPRO

We in response to the matter pertaining to your company & the complainant,...... as my colleague said to me this morning, in any competition there are winners & there are losers......thats just LIFE!

However during these last four weeks your competition has brought about so much excitment amongst us, that we thank you & the team at Telpro, although we didn't make the finals, just like many of the contestants out there, we had a BLAST!

We look forward to the forthcoming Wrap to The Max Competition

Keep up the good work

Kind Regards
Darren & Suzette
Entry 189

Mattheus Odendaal

Please stop forwarding me on this crap.

Your design is not great at all, and I wouldn't have chosen your design if I was one of the judges.
Regardless of what you look like.

I think you are taking this way too far, besides the judges had a cut off time and the finalists were announced after cut off.

It makes no difference that they announced the finalists early.

In fact if Roland really wants to they can take you to court on defamation charges, and I think they would scrape your ass on the floor, as I am pretty sure they have enough resources to take this all the way.

My advise to you would be to keep quiet, admit the fact that your design was not good enough, try again next year and most importantly send apologies to Roland.

Lucien

Ryan

Thank you for voicing your opinion on this issue. I am sorry that it is now turning into a political debate.

I have received some scathing comments from other contestants who have made it through and some of them feel that I am wrong to question any organization that does so much for the needy. I cannot respect people who use the needy or underprivileged as a shield against public enquiry.
If there is something wrong here I have every right to ask the questions I have asked. I will not be humiliated or intimidated into silence.

Ryan Roberts

Well in response to all these political views...

My name is Ryan Roberts and i too entered the roland wrap to the max competition. Its my second time entering. This first wrap to the max comp was great and the runners up/winning designs were really great!
Unfortunatly the same cannot be said about these runners up. As i understand this competition is about design and conceptual ability aswell as "thinking out the box". Maybe i have misunderstood the brief and the entire competition but i have to say i am disappointed in the judging so far.
Please do not get me wrong, there are very descent design qualities in some of the 342 entries, but a couple, particularly in the top 24, caught my undisputed attention. I am not sure how much time was spent analysing the designs, who the judges are and how the judging was executed but unfortunatly, i have to say again, it was a half hearted attempt.

I am not sure what the entrants points of view are on this matter but i am pretty sure most of them would feel very strongly about this. I am sure you guys would agree in saying that most of the entrants have many years of design expertise behind them and, personally, i would not like to challenge that. I reckon some passionate people spent hours of hard dedicated thinking and planning on their concepts. To have an entrant in the runner up position with a design that, looks like, was just entered to maybe get an extra buck and that was done in what looks like Microsoft Word with which has no design ability in at all, just enrages me..

All i can say is that this will be unfortunalty the last wrap to the max comp i enter, which is a pity because my R150 will not be going towards those unfortunate kids who need it most.
If you guys are so concerned as you say you are about the welfare of the "AIDS orphans" picture this. A HIV positive child asking for as little as a blanket to keep them warm at night. My donation will provide that warmth but because the competition was not judged in the proper manner that child will not get one.

Before you reply shouting sour grapes and rambling on about legal issues maybe you should ask yourselves what you can do to prevent this problem in future.

I also recommend you posting a blog so you can get feed back from all 342 entrants, I am sure you will be well surprised!

Thank you for your time.

Wayne Love

Hi There,

I also got a mail from Lucien ranting on about how unfair the judges chose the final 24 and how he feels that when he sent in his photo when requested to do so where prejudiced because of the way he looks.

Now my comment is that, Roland understands and surely have the resources and have the infrastructure to run with such a competition. And sad to say that my personal opinion is that he is a bitter individual and perhaps does not understand the judging process, because Roland did not involve him in that. As I for instance knew what the requirements where to enter the completion apart from just sending in a design. And why at the judging stage have to ask him to send in his picture??? Surely Roland didn't have to do that, according to me if you enter a competition and do not meet the criteria, you will either be disqualified or not listed as a contestant.

The Olympics just ended, but just to make a quick example!
Michael Phelps has 8 gold medals. And when he entered the competition where told to have a swim suite on and a swimming cap. Apart from swimming he had to have a few things in order to participate.
Now, do you think he would have had the opportunity to dive into the pool if he didn't have a cap on???
So I'm glad that your open for a debate and think we should not debate about one person's foolishness but maybe debate on maybe getting a new system in future that will show you the amounts of votes you have as soon as the person voting receives the confirmation sms. Like myself, a lot of people voted for me through out the month. But I lost at the last day of every month because I thought to myself that I have gotten enough people to go onto the Roland site check out my design and vote for me. But I'm not bitter about the fact that I've lost the monthly laptop, and in order to win in life you must be able to lose.

Thank you guys at Roland that helped set up a competition like this, as I enjoyed the fact that I could express myself in such a way!

Regards
Wayne Love

Lucien

Riana, thank you so much for your reply. I am struggling with many issues here and I really appreciate your input. I understand what you’re saying about voicing my opinion at the start of the competition. The problems I’ve experienced only came about after learning the date that the finalists were chosen.

At the start of the competition and on your entry form you will see “Finalists will be informed the week of the 25^th of August 2008”. When I entered I was not aware that the finalists would be phoned a week before time to tell them who they will be so I could not complain about that then. I have no issues with the late entries being allowed into the competition.

The issue I had with the photo was also related to the timing of the finalists being chosen, I had to get my photo in, for the latest, the very day or day before the finalists were chosen.

I totally understand the social needs in this country and please don’t think I am complaining about donating to these very worthwhile institutions. I also ask you to consider that these are real people you are talking about and not just a tool to be used as a shield against public enquiry.

I am glad for you that you have made it into the finalists categories for the schools, I do feel that the school prizes and the wild card prizes were open to everyone. I am questioning how the finalists for the two main categories, the building and the vehicle wrap, were chosen a week before the time advertised.

Also consider the feelings of other contestants who up until yesterday have been sitting in eager anticipation of a call from Roland, they were not informed that finalists were already phoned a week ago because the entry forms and website clearly state, 25^th August 2008. How would you have felt? Empathy is not something that should only be reserved for the needy. We are all human and deserve to be treated equally and with decency.

Thank you for respecting my freedom to voice my concerns about all this and good luck to you at the awards evening. I am truly sorry for putting a damper on all this for the rest of you but there are many issues here that cannot be openly dismissed.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

Lucien.