Once again we arrive at the close of the AGA's Annual International Aquascaping Contest with an oustanding number and quality of aquascapes having been submitted. Our team of esteemed judges have tabulated the scores and prepared the rankings for everyone to see. As in years past, there were many stunning aquascapes making the work of the judges especially difficult in choosing this year's best of show.

For 2012, we again had a large number of entries from all around the world and each category was well represented, especially the smaller and medium sized aquascapes. In addition to choosing the best three aquascapes for each category and the Best of Show, we again chose the Larry Lampert Most Innovative award in memory of our friend and former AGA President.

View Aquascapes

This year's judges had to work especially hard to get the results finished on time due to the number of entries entered again in this year's contest. We had another awesome panel of judges who had their work cut out for them: Karen Randall (USA), Kris Weinhold (USA), Luis Navarro (USA), Troels Andersen (Denmark), and help from Phil Edwards (USA) [and Bailin Shaw (USA) - EO]. Without their efforts, the contest wouldn't be the success that it is each year.

Before we open up the entries for viewing, we have to acknowledge the volunteers and sponsors who helped or supported this contest. Our contest has always been dependent on the efforts of people who volunteer year after year to get the word out worldwide about the contest. For this year's contest, our beautiful graphics were again provided by Jen Williams, who bailed us out at the last second. Thank you so much Jen! And as in year's past, our tech guru, Erik Olson, made things a breeze for both entry and judging of aquascapes and kept everyone on time and out of trouble. If I have missed anyone, thank you everyone for your hard work and we hope to be able to count on your help for next year's contest.

Finally, I would also like to extend our thanks to our sponsors Seachem, Florida Aquatic Nursery, Fluval, and Amazonas. Their generosity is greatly appreciated by the AGA!

Without the efforts of the volunteers and the sponsorship, this contest would not be the success it has been from year to year.

Enjoy the aquascapes!

Kind Regards,
Bailin Shaw, Aquascaping Contest Chair