Nathan Anderson, a San Diego woodworker, has won this year’s Best of Show Award, the top honor at the Design in Wood Exhibition at the San Diego County Fair. Anderson won for the guitar shown at right, made from Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce. Fine Woodworking magazine sponsored the $1,000 prize.

Before moving to California, Anderson built furniture in Portland, Me., and restored historic houses in Nantucket, Mass. He received his first guitar when he was 13.

FWW editor Asa Christiana, who selected the Best of Show winner, says that the guitar “was understated at first, but more and more beautiful the closer I looked, maybe even perfect in the end.” For more on Christiana’s experiences as a judge for the Design in Wood Exhibition, read his Editors Notebook blog entry.

For a second consecutive year, Craig Thibodeau won the Master Woodworker’s Trophy for a sideboard (top photo, left), this one made of cherry, satinwood, and quilted maple (Thibodeau’s “Gardenia Sideboard” received the award last year).This year, Thibodeau also won an award for a chess table made of Macassar ebony, holly, and bubinga (photo below).

The judges selected Robert Manning’s kayak, “Cheetah,” as the piece that best represents this year’s San Diego County Fair theme, “Summer of Sports.” (Photo below right). Manning crafted the kayak from Okourne mahogany, Honduras mahogany, and ash. A half-scale kayak by Manning also won a prize.

The 27th annual Design in Wood Exhibition is coordinated by Bob Stevenson and presented in association with the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association. This year’s show ran from June 14 to July 6 in Del Mar, Calif. It featured entries in 22 classes, such as contemporary furniture, traditional furniture, model building, and musical instruments.

Kimberly Leung is an intern at FineWoodworking.Com