1. Foreign entries are fine. They have won before.
2. Hey, Flavius, your knife story is on our web site as A great Knifemaking Story. This puts you right in there with Darrell Ralph, Rob Simonich and Tom Mayo. (grin) Seriously, I tell your story often. I love the part where you make a knife. It is an ugly little knife but you made it and you are proud of it. The point I make with it is that every knife maker knows how he could make the last knife better. All that counts is that they made a knife. I think more new makers should be less afraid of not making perfect knives.