...And he’s off! An Update on Tour de Fargo

Sons of Norway Headquarters Staff with Talleiv Vollen

It’s official! Tour de Fargo has officially started and Talleiv "Tolly" Vollen is on the first stage of his bicycle journey to Fargo and the Innovative Leadership Conference and 2012 Sons of Norway International Convention. A trip 250 miles in the making, Tolly is set to arrive on Monday, with stops in St. Cloud, Alexandria, Fergus Falls and finally Fargo. 

As of this morning, Tolly’s efforts have raised nearly $2,500 for the Sons of Norway Foundation’s Helping Hands to Members Fund, Oslo Summer School Scholarship (OISS) Fund and for Trollheim 1-511’s Scholarship Fund. In fact, a spur of the moment donation was made just minutes before Tolly set out by a woman who was not a Sons of Norway member. She just happened to have heard what Tolly was doing and was inspired to do what she could to help. How great is that? To learn more about the kinds of events made possible by these generous donations, check out Wednesday's blog post about Tour de Fargo.

Sons of Norway CEO Eivind Heiberg with Talleiv Vollen.

 Donating is easy. Pledges may be made by the mile or in set dollar amounts by emailing foundation@sofn.com. You can also donate online through the Sons of Norway website by clicking here. Mailed donations may also be sent to the Sons of Norway Foundation at 1455 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408. Please make checks payable to the Sons of Norway Foundation and include “Tour de Fargo” in the memo line.

 Be sure to check back to the blog as we update you on his progress and his official arrival in Fargo! While you're here, be sure to leave well wishes and notes of encouragement to Tolly in the comments section below.

UPDATE!
I just had the opportunity to talk with Talleiv and things are going well along his route. He's currently traveling north of the city on West River Road in Champlin. Unfortunately, Talleiv is running a bit behind his planned pace due to a flat tire, but it has since been repaired and he is back on the road and in good spirits!

Biking for a Cause: Tour de Fargo

One very ambitious member will be making a special bicycle trip on August 17-20. 69-year-old Talleiv “Tolly” Vollen, a charter member of Trollheim 1-511 in St. Cloud, will be biking 250 miles from Sons of Norway Headquarters in Minneapolis to Fargo, the site of the new Innovative Leadership Conference and 2012 Sons of Norway International Convention. Talk about some serious biking! After his trek, Tolly will qualify for both bronze and silver sykkelmerke Sports Medal Program medals!

An avid cyclist, Tolly was inspired to use his hobby for a charitable cause, raising funds for the Sons of Norway Foundation’s Helping Hands to Members Fund, Oslo International Summer School Scholarship (OISS) Fund and for Trollheim 1-511’s Scholarship Fund. What are some of the events made possible by the support from these great funds? Youth barneløpets, Project Framtid (Adopt-A-School) programming, eight week study abroad programs at OISS, camperships to Skogfjorden Norwegian Language Village and much more. If you’d like to learn more about the great causes that these types of funds support, be sure to check out the Sons of Norway Foundation’s annual reports by clicking here. 

Donating is easy. Pledges may be made by the mile or in set dollar amounts by emailing foundation@sofn.com or tkvollen65@charter.net. Mailed donations may also be sent to the Sons of Norway Foundation at 1455 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408. Please make checks payable to the Sons of Norway Foundation and include “Tour de Fargo” in the memo line. 

Tolly will be setting out on his journey on Friday at 9:00 a.m. from Sons of Norway Headquarters, so be sure to check back to the blog as we update you on his official send off and arrival in Fargo! You can also leave well wishes and notes of encouragement to Tolly in the comments section below.

Sons of Norway Welcomes New Travel Partner

Sons of Norway is proud to announce that it is welcoming Borton Overseas as an official Sons of Norway Travel Partner!

Well known for their expertise in creating unique, unexpected journeys throughout Scandinavia, Africa and other regions throughout the world, Borton Overseas thrives on planning trips to satisfy most budgets, timing and most of all—an appetite for adventure.

This latest sponsorship is a continuation of a longstanding relationship with Borton Overseas with past examples being the travel provider’s discount program for members, their support of the Norwegian Experience recruitment contest and their partnership in last fall’s Presidential Tour of Norway.

If you’d like to learn more about Borton Overseas, their 5% discount for members, or any of the adventures they have planned for 2012, you can visit them on the web, or meet with their staff at the International Convention in Fargo, ND this August.

A Conference for ALL: The Innovative Leadership Conference!

If you haven’t heard the exciting news yet, there’s going to be an exciting addition made to the 2012 International Convention in Fargo, ND this summer, called the Innovative Leadership Conference (ILC)!


It’s going to be an exciting time in Fargo, for sure, as hundreds of members from throughout the organization come together to learn how to strengthen their leadership skills. During the two day conference, ILC attendees will learn about a variety of topics, including effective communication styles for leaders, problem solving with collective visioning, new techniques for engaging new members and retaining current members.

The entire time, attendees will be lead by professional speaker and trainer, David Mann. David has worked with companies, like General Mills, Mayo Health System, Boston Scientific, Merrill Lynch, The Hartford, and many others, helping them build and strengthen leaders from the bottom up. He is also on the faculty of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, teaching persuasive technique through storytelling to attorneys and law students nationwide. Attendees are sure to benefit from David’s expertise and unique style of presenting important information!

If that weren’t enough to convince you that the ILC will be an extra-special event, consider that this new event is brings a number of firsts to the century-old International Convention. It’s the first time that a major convention event is open to ALL members, whether they are registered for the International Lodge Meeting or not; it’s also the first time that the ever-popular educational component is a stand-alone event; last, but not least, this is the first time Sons of Norway is offering leadership training that will help attendees in their roles as lodge members as well as in their professional lives.

As you can see, the Innovative Leadership Conference is sure to be a huge event and you can be part of it! Registration is now open and all you have to do to reserve your spot at this first-ever event is call 800-945-8851 or download a registration form by clicking here. Also, if you want to learn more about the event, be sure to visit the 2012 International Convention website, which has information about the ILC, the International Lodge Meeting, the Folk Art competition and more!

In the meantime, if you need more convincing that this event is right for you, keep checking back here on the blog. Over the coming weeks and months I’ll be posting more information about what attendees can expect and all the exciting additions we’re making to the convention! Until then, leave a comment below and let me know what kinds of things YOU would like to learn about at a leadership event.

International Convention: Bringing Good People and Great Ideas Together

Sons of Norway is proud to unveil the new International Convention logo for 2012! Throughout the rest of the year whenever you see this logo on the blog or any of Sons of Norway’s other online properties you’ll know that the content is all about the International Convention. Also, if you are planning to attend the International Convention in Fargo, ND, this summer you’ll see it on a lot of different things, from signs to printed materials, to some of the gifts we’ll be giving delegates and ILC participants. I’m really excited to share it with you because it’s something that the Sons of Norway creative team has been working for some time now.

The initial idea behind this year’s logo was “bringing good people and great ideas together.” If you think about it, that’s what an International Convention is really about. During a convention members come together to celebrate our organization and make decisions for the future and, in doing so, bring great ideas to the table for discussion and voting. From there the creative team began exploring ideas that visually represented “bringing good people and great ideas together.”

From that came the idea of using a light bulb to represent the good people and great ideas with the puzzle pieces representing how they all come together for the common good! The creative team then took the idea one step further by creating a similar logo for the Innovative Leadership Conference and the International Lodge Meeting. The end result being a cohesive brand for all elements of this year's important event!

Above all, we feel these new logos are fun, yet accurate representations of the convention and hope you do, too!

As always, if you are interested in learning more about the 2012 International Convention in Fargo, ND, all you have to do is visit the official event website!

It's a Convention Year!

For a lot of people in the blogosphere January marked a new beginning; a time to celebrate the year to come with all its inherent excitement and mystery. For me, that time is February.

Oh sure, I could have jumped on that bandwagon, but the truth is I was pretty darn busy putting 2011 to bed. Now that February has arrived I can look forward to the year to come. And what a year it’s going to be!

If you didn’t know already, 2012 is going to be HUGE for Sons of Norway because it’s a convention year! Starting this month lodges throughout North America and Norway are considering issues they feel are important to their members, their districts and to the organization as a whole. In the coming weeks they’ll be voting on resolutions to bring to their district conventions, choosing delegates to represent them and then participating in the governance of Sons of Norway. All very important and heady tasks, for sure.

If you’ve never been to a district or international convention, I strongly urge you to go. There are two ways you can get to a convention, the first is to run for and be elected as a delegate and the second is to attend as an event guest.

Being a delegate is probably one of the most important jobs a Sons of Norway member can have. In doing so, you will represent the wishes and needs of your fellow lodge members. But, in a grander sense, you will also be a steward of the organization because it will be your job to help chart the course for Sons of Norway’s future. The decisions you make, the votes you cast, the statements you give will all be part of our lush history and our great future!

For those who wish to simply attend as a guest of the event, you have an important role to play as well. You will serve as a witness to everything that happens and learn a great deal more about Sons of Norway than you ever have before. You will also be the ones who help support delegates, volunteer to make the convention great and take part in many of the wonderful cultural and educational elements of a convention.

Above all, though, everyone who takes part in a convention is there for a single, unifying reason: to keep Sons of Norway a vibrant, relevant organization for years to come. That’s something that everyone should be proud of and the reason why the most common words that cross my lips at conventions is “thank you.”

So with that, we’ve officially kicked off the 2012 convention year! In the coming days, weeks and months I’ll be posting a ton of convention-related info, especially about the international convention, so be sure to keep checking back. Also, if you’d like to learn more about your district convention, or the international convention this August, here are some links you might like to check out.

• 2012 International Convention
• District 1 Convention 
• District 2 Convention (website coming soon)
• District 3 Convention
• District 4 Convention
• District 5 Convention
• District 6 Convention
• District 7 Convention
• District 8 Convention

International Convention: Board of Director Elections Part 1

It is my pleasure to announce the new Sons of Norway International Board of Directors Executive Committee for the 2010-2012 biennium!

Dan Rude, International President
Marit Kristiansen, International Vice President
Audun Gythfeldt, International Secretary
Bill Fosmoe, International Treasurer
There is a fifth member of the Executive Committee, however I'm still awaiting confirmation on who it will be and shall post that info soon.

As you can see, the only change for this biennium was in the Treasurer spot. I'll admit it was sad to hear that our previous International Treasurer, Gene Brandvold was retiring from the board. I've gotten to know Gene over the past 10 years that I've been with Sons of Norway and it's been a great experience.

That said, I also know Bill pretty well and I'm looking forward to working with him in the future! I know he's going to do a bang-up job and be a great asset to the organization. So, join me in welcoming Bill to the Executive Committee!

I'll post more about the International Director elections tomorrow or the day after. Until then, have a great day!

International Convention: I'm Proud to Be a Sons of Norway Member

I’ll be the first to admit that when the general session opened on Wednesday morning, I thought we were going to be in for a loooooooong day. It felt like there was still a ton of work to be done and a lot of resolutions to be discussed and voted on. AND we still had to vote for the International Board of Directors. At 8:30, when everyone was settling into their places, it seemed like there was no way we’d be finished on schedule.

Uh, now would be a good time to point out that I’ve been known to be wrong now and then.

With drive and dedication heretofore unknown to me, the delegates got down to business and wrapped up their day with 15 minutes to spare. They discussed, they debated and they voted on the business at hand. I should be able to provide you with a final outcome of the resolutions in a few days, once all the t’s have been crossed.

It was absolutely amazing to see! Or so I’m told.

You see, I wasn’t able to watch the entire session because while the delegates were wrapping up and winding down, so, too, was the business operations at the convention. We had booths to tear down, an office to disassemble and pack up and a lot of stuff to prepare for the banquet happening later that night. By all rights it should have been pure pandemonium, but thanks to a little forethought and a great team it was more what I like to call “a controlled chaos.” It got a little crazy, but we got our jobs done quickly and efficiently.

But back to the convention itself.

This was the day that I felt the most proud to be a Sons of Norway members. You see, on the last day there were a lot of resolutions and law changes to be voted on. Some were hotly contested, and some appeared to be outright divisive. But (and here’s where the pride come in) through it all, every time a delegate approached the mic to raise a point of discussion or disagree with a previous statement, they did so with great aplomb and respect for the International Board and fellow delegates. There were times when the matters at hand could have easily devolved into a shouting match with fingers being pointed in every direction, but that did not happen. There were moments when I feared for the worst and was shown, time and again, that my fears were unfounded.

Quite simply, the delegates to the 2010 International Convention were of the highest caliber and I’m proud to say that I spent a few days among them in Coeur d’Alene.

International Convention: Breakout Sessions

After a long morning of business, the delegates broke for lunch, which was followed by an afternoon of great Breakout Sessions. Delegates in attendance learned about Social Media Best Practices, using the Foundation to improve your lodge, programming ideas and how FBCs can help a lodge with their recruitment efforts.

I had the pleasure of presenting the social media session with our IT Director, Rachele, and we received a lot of great questions and positive comments. The one thing that most people seemed to want, though was the PowerPoint presentation, so I'm making it available to members via the Sons of Norway website members' section. I'll also try to make the other presentations available as well.

Ok, more later, but until then, please enjoy my view from the back.

International Convention Correction

This morning I need to make a correction to one of my blog posts yesterday. In all the excitement of International Board nominations I mistakenly wrote that there were three people running for secretary.

In actuality there are two people running for International Treasurer and just one for Secretary. Roger Espeland and D2 International Director Bill Fosmoe are running for Treasurer and Audun Gythfeldt is running unopposed for Secretary.

Sorry about the mistake and thanks to Delegates Norm Carlson and Mary Beth Ingvolstad for pointing out the error.

Brand New Shiny...

In recent years at Sons of Norway International Conventions the headquarters has put together various commemorative items for delegates. In some years it has take the shape of room keys, post cards and hats. This year, however, we did something a little different.

I'm pleased to show you the official 2010 Sons of Norway International Convention commemorative coin!

UPDATE

As you may have seen at the end of my blog post from the 28th, I put out a bounty on one of our good-natured members from D3. Well, leave it to one of our FBC's to have the tenacity needed to find him and bring him in crying like a little girl kicking and screaming. Check out the photo we got of the delivery!

International Board Nominations

Ok, we’re off and running for another day of great governance and excitement. As I type this we are kicking off nominations for your next biennial International Board of Directors.

To start, Dan Rude was nominated for a second term as our International President. Mary Bennet from D5 gave a very nice nomination speech, highlighting Dan’s many qualifications.

After that Erlene Stevenson took the podium to nominate Marit Kristiansen for another term as the International Vice President. Erlene chose to focus on Marit’s energy and positivism as our current VP.

Next up was former D6 President, Janie Kelly. When it was her turn, she took the mic and nominated Audun Gythfeldt for a second term as the International Secretary.

Then, in a surprise move, Lynne Rommesmo nominated Roger Espeland for International Treasurer on a platform of 990 IRS compliance. After that, to make is a real horse-race Mickey Andrew nominated current D2 International Director Bill Fosmoe, pointing out his many previous positions of experience.

Looks like so far the race for International Treasurer is going to be the most hotly debated. Keep checking back as others may decide to throw their hat in the ring!

A Very Poignant Day

As I sit here, NFCA CEO, Joe Annotti, is just finishing up his speech to the delegation. But I’ll get to that in a minute.

So far, today has been very full with a number of speakers and presentations. First we had Scott Ginsberg, aka “The Nametag Guy” speaking about the importance of being approachable. This was great information for lodge members and leaders. I hope we’ll be able to make some of his presentation available for other members and lodges to enjoy.

Then, just before lunch, we were treated to a short presentation by Linda McCormick from Borton Overseas, the Official Travel Partner of the 2010 International Convention. She provided delegates with information about all the wonderful discounts available from Borton to Sons of Norway members.

That brings me to now, after lunch, where Joe Annotti is speaking about the importance of Fraternal Benefit Societies and the importance of running them like a business. His whole speech very entertaining but I think there were two key take-away messages.

The first was that the holy trinity of the fraternal world is governance, relevance and solvency. All equally important, I think.

The second key message was that just because we are non-profits, that doesn’t mean that profits are bad. Quite the contrary, in fact because the more profitable we are, the more good we can do in the communities we serve.

I’m a fraternal guy at heart and think that fraternal programming is important, but Joe’s point is right on. If fraternals don’t behave like businesses and focus on profits, our future is very bleak. Very, very bleak.

That’s why Sons of Norway is placing renewed emphasis on our own holy trinity of fraternalism: Fraternal, Financial and Foundation. These are our three key areas of business and we understand their symbiotic relationship with respect to one another. When speaking about these areas of business, International President, Dan Rude, often uses the analogy of a three-legged stool: without one of the legs the whole stool falls (as would our beloved organization).

Something to think about when you wonder why Sons of Norway sells insurance, or why it has a foundation.

In closing it’s been a very poignant day so far. I’m hoping the rest of the convention is the same. If so, this is going to be the Best. Convention. EVAR!

More to come later!

International Convention 2010: Opening Ceremonies/President's Reception

Today was a lot of fun!

I've been to a number of District and International Conventions over the years and the day of opening ceremonies is always my favorite. Not because of the pomp and circumstance, nor because of music and speeches (though they are all very nice and rousing).

The reason this is my favorite day is because for many it is a day of reunions for far flung delegates who have built long-lasting relationships through their time at conventions. Typically Sons of Norway members are not a very "huggy" bunch of folks, but every time I'm at a convention for the first day I'm always surprised and warmed by the site of hundreds of old friends coming together once again. There are smiles, hugs, kind words and the all-encompassing embrace of friendship.

This year, that was especially true at the President's Reception. Just take a look at our Flickr page for the proof.

Ok, that's all for now. Enjoy your day and see you tomorrow!

It's All Happening!

Whew, there's a lot going on right now.

Not only am I spending the next week in Coeur d'Alene, ID providing live coverage of the 2010 International Convention, but the blog will also have some great posts from Viking Editor extraordinaire, Amy Boxrud, AND there will be regular posts covering this year's Norwegian Experience winner's trip to Norway! This blog is going into serious whirling dervish mode and I've been forced to face a very difficult reality.

I am only one person.

Who knew, right?

So, with that, I've asked for some additional help from my colleague, Melissa. She's been gracious enough to pick up the Norwegian Experience blog posts for me in my absence. For those of you who may not remember, Melissa joined the team a while backk and has regretted it ever since been a great member of the team. Be sure to leave her some nice comments!

As you can see, there's a lot going on here at ye olde Sons of Norway blog. I hope everyone is ready for the coming avalanche of Norwegian heritage and culture!

Ok, more later, but for now I'm off to find this guy. I know he's checked in to the hotel, so I may need to stake out the convention registration desk. If anyone reading this can deliver him to me at the HQ office in the Coeur d'Alene hotel and spa, I will gladly repay with a special prize.

Have a great day everyone!

Live from the 2010 International Convention!

Hei everyone! As promised, we are bringing the convention experience to everyone in Sons of Norway who wasn't able to join us in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, ID!

Today was a set-up day at the hotel, where a couple colleagues and I began to set up the HQ office, review docs and tour the areas of the hotel we will be using come Saturday. It's been a full day, but it doesn't make for super-exciting blog posts, so I'll keep it short today.

One item of interest is that I've updated the Sons of Norway YouTube channel with a couple of videos. There will be more exciting vids coming over the next few days, though. I promise!

More tomorrow!

Recruiter’s Reception at the 2010 Convention!

August 30th at 5:30pm – where will you be?

Why, at the 2nd Recruiter’s Reception, of course!

Join the Fraternal Department to celebrate short-term recruiting successes and share stories of what works with other motivated members. For recruiting just one new, dues-paying member,* you’ll also get to take part in a great spread of hors d’oeurves and drinks and have a chance to win prizes.

We’ve teamed up with Ingebretsen’s to present lucky and hard-working recruiters with some fabulous prizes, which may include these awesome items below. There’s still plenty of time to recruit a member and be part of the fun in Coeur d’Alene!

Want more information? Pop over here (http://sonsofnorway2010.com/agenda/Default.aspx#Reception2) for *full details on qualifications and participation.

New Sons of Norway Charter & Constitution

Recently Sons of Norway unveiled the reboot of its Charter and Constitution. The resulting document is the culmination of more than two years of hard work on the part of a committee who have shown great dedication. This new document constitutes a big change in layout and organization of information. That being so, I thought it would be a good idea to interview someone who was a driving force behind the project, International Secretary Audun Gythfeldt.

Audun was gracious enough to speak with me and share some behind-the-scenes information as well as his own thoughts on the project.

SofN Blog: First, thanks for taking the time to share some information about this project with the readers. Now, tell me who was on the committee that was tasked with this project. Also, did each member have specific duties/roles? If so, what were they?

Audun Gythfeldt: The Committee consisted of the following: Marit Kristiansen, Jostein Bakken, Sherrill “Swede” Swenson, Tore Pettersen, Jim Olson, Barabara Berntsen, Ray Knutson and myself as chairman.

I asked Barbara to be the secretary for the committee, but otherwise none of the members had a specific duty.

SNB: What were the goals of the committee? Do you feel you met them all? If not, which goals were not met?

AG: The resolves of the resolution that was passed by the International Lodge in Vancouver in 2006 read: “THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the International Lodge support a process to review the current Constitutions as to its components and their relevancy to the laws and governance of our Society; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the International President shall appoint a special committee to develop a re-ordered constitution and companion document which will be reviewed by the International Board during the 2006-2008 biennium and /or any other member group. The committee shall submit a report to the 2008 International Lodge Meeting.”

The goals therefore became to reorder the Charter and Constitutions into a document, or documents, that were relevant to the laws and governance of our Society. We clearly think that we achieved these goals.

SNB:Tell me about the process. What were the steps taken from the beginning, leading to the document we now have?

AG: In order to avoid any misunderstandings, the Committee asked the International President for clarification with regard to what was expected, task parameters and process. No limiting factors were set, but it was strongly suggested that the re-ordered Constitutions and Companion document should have a one-to-one correlation with the material in the then current Charter and Constitutions, and that the documents should be debated on their individual merits as to form, not content.

Having accepted this, the purpose of the task was to simplify the Constitutions , keeping in only laws-related items. At the outset the Committee developed a “structure outline” setting out the flow of the constitutions after having removed items not considered being law. The items so removed became the Procedures part, or the “companion document” if you like. During this part of the work, it was realized that there were many issues that that applied equally to all the three sections of the former constitutions, and with that in mind, a fourth constitution, General Provisions, was developed.

The Committee then worked on the structure of the document as we wanted the chapters to have the same contents in each of the different sections, in the constitutions as well as in the procedures. The idea was to line up the issues in a lateral fashion so that an issue in one section can be found in the same place across the board.

Probably the last thing the Committee tackled was the numbering system. I suggested that a decimal system would be my preference, and the Committee agreed. This is particularly important with regard to the Committee’s attempt to line up issues in a lateral fashion, and it would also avoid that future changes would necessitate significant changes in the numbering system.

The Committee also discussed whether to separate the Charter and Constitutions from the Procedures, but came to the conclusion that there is such a strong relationship between the sections, that they should be issued in one publication, and made available both in hard copy and on the SONS OF Norway web-site.

SNB:Have you gotten any feedback from lodges/districts about the updates that have been made so far? How has the document been received?

AG: I have had very little feed-back yet. There was surprisingly little debate at the International Lodge meeting in San Diego, and the printed version is just now being distributed.

SNB: What’s the next step for the committee? I know that in this first stage you didn’t make any changes to the content, just the order. But now are you going to be reviewing the content for possible updates?

AG: The Committee is now at work making improvements. We have already made changes in the Procedures, which the International Lodge granted the International Board the authority to do. We are now looking at changes in the Constitutions. Several of the committee members have suggestions, and we got a number of suggestions from former International President, Dennis Sorheim, that we are looking at. Tore Pettersen and I also want to take a look at the Index, which we think is in need of some improvement, and we want to include procedures from other parts of the organization in the Procedures section. With that I think we have plenty on our plate for this current biennium!

SNB: Any final thoughts?

AG: It was an incredibly interesting exercise to be part of. But I am sure thoughts will come once I start getting feedback from our members. So, let us have a little chat when I come out to Minneapolis next month for the International Board meeting.

International Folk Art Exhibition & Competition

This year's International Folk Art Exhibition & Competition was a great event, with many beautiful entries. I had the opportunity to spend some time in the exhibition room, checking out all the great pieces of folk art and I never cease to be amazed at the talent of Sons of Norway members. The time, effort and talent that goes into many of the folk art pieces is truly inspiring (and makes me wish I wasn't devoid of artistic talent). When you look at the various entries, you can see the love of heritage pouring out from every rosemaled, woven and carved piece.

With that, it's time to congratulate District 2's own Hannah Graves for winning the Best in Show Award! Hannah's 4-inch-wide card-woven Telemark belt was chosen by the folk art judges to be the best entry in any category. Congratulations, Hannah, on your fine work and your commitment to keeping traditional Norwegian art alive!