CGC Grading Contest at Baltimore and Big Apple Show In October

Are you planning on attending either the Baltimore Con or Big Apple Con in October? If so, you can also take advantage of this opportunity to test your grading skills! Together with GP Analysis for Comics, Matt Nelson of Classics Incorporated and Richard Evans of Bedrock Comics will host the Third Official CGC grading contest at both shows (Baltimore Comic-Con Oct. 10-11, Wizard World Big Apple Oct. 16-18). The contest will be held throughout both weekends at the Classics Incorporated/Worldwide Comics booth.

The rules have changed since the last competition, this time you will grade 20 comics in 20 minutes. No restoration detection will be necessary in this round, as all 20 books will be unrestored. At the end of the Big Apple show on Sunday, those 20 comics will be submitted to CGC for grading, with the results announced the following week. The prize for First Place is $250 and bragging rights! Only 1st, 2nd and 3rd place are announced, but each participant's individual scores will be emailed to them.

The cost has dropped too. If you are currently a subscriber to GPA for Comics, then your cost to compete is nothing! GPA will cover the usual $10 entry fee for all paid members. To sign up, simply log in to your GPA account and click on “Grading Contest” in the main menu. For those non-subscribers who wish to participate, GPA will pay half of that fee. So you pay either nothing or $5 to play. Set aside 20 minutes while you're at the show, come by the Classics Incorporated/Worldwide booth and test your grading skills!

Please visit classicsincorporated.com for information regarding contest rules and results.

Winners Announced for Wizard World Chicago CGC Grading Contest

The Second CGC Grading Contest was held at the Wizard World Chicago convention on Thursday August 6th 2009 and the results are in! First place goes to Heritage Auction Galleries' Barry Sandoval with a score of 87.5 (2.92 per book), Michael Lindquist placed second with a score of 100.0 (3.33 per book), and Mike Strahan placed third with a score of 105.5 (3.52 per book).

For a complete list of scores and books from both the Philly and Chicago contests, please visit classicsincorporated.com.