I watched the video of you receiving gold, you seemed dumfounded and speechless! A nice feather for the cap JQ!
A somewhat uncommon state for me to be in, I really was.
After tasting some of the competition in other categories (you're not allowed to taste in a category you have an entry in) I was convinced I had a solid shot at bronze, but didn't have a hope in hell of competing any higher than that with either of the entries.
By the time it was announced I'd already gone through that moment of despair and had told myself it was all a worthless adventure. Then they awarded me the gold.
Yeah, speechless indeed.
I was really impressed with the amount of work they go through to ensure nobody judges a category they enter in, nobody gets any hint of the double re-numbering they do of the entries to ensure no bias, the way they make sure the judges come to a consensus on each and every entry. It's pretty a comprehensive and thorough system. It's been a great experience, and valuable in many ways.
One of the funniest experiences was at the afterparty when I rushed down to share the leftovers with the other entrants and the head steward said, "Oh, sorry man...they never made it out of the steward's room".
JQ