A little more than a month after organizing the Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic, Seymour K. Worthington Polar Bear has agreed to serve as head judge of the 2013 Toe-Hair Contest.
After The Park’s Department of Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations made the announcement this morning, the winner of the 2012 Toe-Hair Contest spent a few minutes fielding the media’s questions before heading to his office.
Standing in front of the Ancient, Open-Air Theatre, the site of tomorrow’s event, Worthington asserted that he was feeling “invigorated rather than spent” after the Poetry Picnic, and pooh-poohed the idea, expressed by some media representatives, that he was “spreading himself too thin.”
“Nonsense,” he said. “I’m in fighting shape…[I’m] a good weight and I have a keen eye, and not just for poetry,” he joked.
He added that the Poetry Picnic had allowed him to hone his “Animal” skills and learn to work well with others.
“That is an important requirement of any organizer, but also of a head judge among [other] judges,” he said.
According to the Contest rules, the head judge votes along with his peers, but his vote also has the potential to end a tie among the other four judges.
“The position is an important one,” said Aintza Kanariar, Director of Public Relations for the department, at the time of the announcement.
“Should there be a tie, the head judge, who is an Animal with greater expertise than the other judges, has the ability to choose the winner. It is a position of responsibility that calls for a great deal of knowledge and personal integrity,” she said.
The other four contest judges are Marsha Shrew, Barton L. Bradypus, JerMain Jerboa, and Gabrielle T. Gecko, whose grandfather, Samuel P. Gecko, was awarded second prize in the 2004 contest.
The event, which is in its 18th year, is set to commence at 10:00 a.m. Park time.
