NEWSLETTER
It has been an event-filled last few weeks, not only for the Southern Region, but for all of CFA! Lots of good things happening all around, and many more good things to come!
Southern Region Awards Show
Makes CFA History

The National Alliance of Birman Breeders hosted the 2019 Regional Awards Show in Timonium, Maryland the weekend of June 22-23. This show was also the first in-conjunction show that was run concurrently within the same show hall. The CFA show and its exhibitors were on one side of the hall, and the TICA show (hosted by Capital Cats) was on the other side. A few exhibitors did show in both shows. The clubs shared show hall expenses. More information about this show, and about how in-conjunction shows are produced, will be in the August issue of Cat Talk.

Winn Feline Foundation Symposium

On Friday afternoon prior to the show, the Winn Feline Foundation held a symposium on a variety of feline topics at the Red Lion Hotel. The event was also sponsored by CFA, TICA, and Dr. Elsey's. The symposium featured six different speakers, and topics included cerebral disgenesis, diarrhea in kittens, and several topics on genetic tests as related to treating disease.

Jane Lamas and Cyndi Lewis with this year's Best Cats banner

Regional Award Banquet

The Southern Stars shown brightly in Timonium Saturday night during the regional awards banquet! The wall was filled with the posters of our 28 national winning cats from all five classes of competition. Kudos to Banquet Manager Claire Dubit for keeping things organized and running smoothly, especially with the late in the game challenges that she faced!






Special Honors 
Above: Leslie receiving Exhibitor of the Year from Regional Director Kenny Currle

Congratulations to the recipients of this year's special awards!
Exhibitor of the  Year - Leslie Carr 
Clerk of the Year - Krista Schmitt
New Exhibitor of the Year - Melody Boyd 











Melody Boyd

The regional website will be updated soon with photos of all of our winning cats. Our show and banquet photographer, Larry Johnson, has posted photos from the banquet

Unclaimed Trophies

Trish Blees (Awards Chair) and Claire Dubit report that a lot of the various awards were not picked up at the banquet and they are working on getting them to their owners. If you still need to get your award, here are some options.
1. Claire will have the awards at the Richmond show July 27-28. You (or a friend) may get them there.
2. Claire can ship the award, at the recipient's expense. Email her your name and shipping address.
Shipping costs: $24 for breed awards, $28 for trophies 
3. Please send your payment to Karen Boyce, or you can pay via PayPal.
Karen's address is:
85074 Majestic Walk Blvd
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034
(make checks payable to CFA Southern Region)
Date to complete requests and pick up awards: September 7 at the Cat Fanciers of Washington show in Winchester, VA


News From the CFA Annual

Deb Curtis and Noralyn Heisig feeling the disco vibe at Friday night's hospitality

The very next week brought us the CFA Annual in Syarcuse, NY at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino. WOW, what a fun weekend Region 1 hosted!!! The Annual Planning Committee's attention to detail made certain that everyone enjoyed themselves. And a rocking "Studio 54" hospitality Friday night got everyone smiling and out on the dance floor. The banquet itself was beautiful, and the food some of the best ever at a banquet. (and it was also nice to see so many of our region's winning cats' photos and their owners up on stage that night!) We would like to extend to our neighboring region a resounding "thank you" for being such gracious hosts!! 

Kathy Black took notes from the board meetings on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. You can find those here and here. CFA Secretary Rachel Anger will have complete minutes available at a later date. 

Of interest to our region's clubs: the CFA Board of Directors approved giving 25 clubs $1000 sponsorship in the upcoming show season for new shows. This is in addition to whatever funds they apply for as a CFA-sponsored show and Agility sponsorships. The board also increased funding for in-conjunction shows to $1000 for eleven shows. All of these new sponsorships are on a first come, first served basis.  

Director at Large Election Congratulations to CFA's five newly-elected directors at large: George Eigenhauser, Carol Krzanowski, Brian Moser, Darrell Newkirk, and our region's own Melanie Morgan.

Jane Lamas receives first Richard Gebhardt Award
at the CFA Awards Banquet

Jane Lamas with her husband Anthony Albertini holding the Richard Gebhardt award
Darrell Newkirk and Mark Hannon presented the inaugural Richard H. Gebhardt Memorial National Award. This award is sponsored by the Kim Everett-Hirsch estate in perpetuity, and will be presented to the Best Cat in Regions 1-9. 

Gebhardt joined the Garden State Cat Club at the age of 16 and by the time he was 22, he was the youngest president of the club and remained president for 14 years. His accomplishments were overwhelming. He became president of CFA and held that position 12 years. He was president of the CFA Judges Association for 6 years, first international AB judge and first American to ever judge a show in Europe. Mr. Gebhardt also was owner/co-owner of two CFA COTY's in 1959 and 1969, both black Persians. How fitting that the first recipient was GC, NW I-Catchers iCloud, a solid white Persian! And the Southern Region is proud to call both iCloud and Jane one of our own!

Upcoming Southern Region Shows

 
The region has two shows coming up on the weekend of July 27-28 in Richmond, VA. Gems holds their show on Saturday, with The International Egyptian Mau Society hosting their show Sunday.

August brings the region these shows - please plan to enter and support your region's shows!
  • August 3-4 - Platinum Coast Cat Fanciers - Ft. Myers, FL
  • August 10 - Hidden Peak - Timonium, MD
  • August 11 - Hidden Peak - Timonium, MD
  • August 17-18 - Rebel Rousers - Griffin, GA

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We want to share photos of our Southern Region shows! Please remember to send me a photo (and a short show story if you wish) immediately after your show for upcoming newsletters.

Got show news? We want to know!
Did something special happen at a show? Got a show brag? Want to give a shout out to a new exhibitor? Let us know!
(news published at the discretion of the editorial staff and
subject to editing for content)


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