As our event will be an international championship the judges are invited with the help of the ETC. Five internationally respected judges will be judging on our event.
Berend Koch
Judge – “Mammals”
Always interested in nature and its animals, my favorites in taxidermy are birds and smaller mammals. At my current employment in the Department of Biology at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, I’m the taxidermist and manager of our zoological collection and exhibition. Since 15 years I have been judging birds, mammals, and skeletons at several international (WTC / ETC) and national (Italy, Finland, Switzerland) taxidermy competitions.
Yvonne Fritzsche-Nehls
Judge – “Mammals”
Training to a Taxidermist 1982-84 in Bochum, Work in Kiel, University of Kiel /Zoologie 84-90, since ’90 with own workshop. The focus of my work are birds and small mammals, but also seals etc, for exhibitions, schools, museums, and National Park Services. Participation on several congresses of taxidermists with presentations, working projects in Paraguay, Chile, Switzerland. Judge for small mammals and mammals on ETC since 2010 for 4 times.
Stephan Weigl
Judge – “Birds”
I am engaged in taxidermy for 40 years and my main interests are birds – taxidermy and birdwatching. At the moment I am the curator of the vertebrate collection of the Upper Austrian State Museum in Linz and head of the Biology Center. I have been judging European and Italian taxidermy championships since 2004.
Matthias Fahrni
Judge – “Fishes, amphibians, reproductions”
Already as a child Matthias was fascinated about waters and fish. In the age of a teenager he begun his taxidermy career, because he wasn’t satisfied with what had been shown as fish mounts back in the eighties. Many of them more looked like “Zombies” than like good fish quality work and Matthias decided to change this. Meanwhile, with more than 30 years of experience, Matthias developed many methods and technics to realize the impossible. With more than 50’000 species, the fish family is with a distance the largest group of vertebrates on this planet. Only a handful of these species were commonly mounted in the past, Matthias changed this significantly, especially with his high quality small and micro mounts. He is a “living legend” in Europe, being the only one with 3 world champion titles. He already judged around the globe at many different shows and gave seminars. As the chairman and organizer of the ETC® for many years now, he knows what a taxidermy competition is about.
Walter in ‘t Velt
Judge – “Skeletons”
I am working in a hospital that specializes in people with epilepsy.
As a child I’am already interested in nature, collected skulls and make skeletons, something that I still do.
I participated in Dutch, European and World Taxidermy Championships and was at some point invited by the ETC to be allowed to judging the skeletons. And so I have been judging at the competitions in Italy, Finland and Austria.