Word about GSAF’s high quality spread through art circles. Jurors have included Robert Hughes, author/director of Shock of the New book and TV program, Janet Kardon of the American Craft Museum in New York, art historian Barbara Rose and William J. Cowart, curator of 20th Century Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. For the 1999 Festival, the Board of Directors decided to invite two jurors of national prominence instead of one. This idea proved successful and the tradition of excellence continues.

The opportunity to have one’s work evaluated by an eminent juror was in itself an attraction to many artists. Much of the initial supportiveness came from artists in the university faculties. Bruce Marsh, professor of art at the University of South Florida, was Best of Show winner for the first two years. He said the wins were important to him, not only because the prize money represented a not-inconsiderable percentage of his annual salary at the time, but also because the awards brought him recognition.

A 1987 winner, Brad Cooper, had recently received his master’s degree in fine arts when he won Best of Show, and he used the prize money as a down payment on an art gallery in Ybor City – creating another fine venue for art. But the real value to Cooper lay in the fact that juror Vivien Raynor, an art critic for The New York Times, reviewed his work and found it worthy. It was a huge psychological boost.