Announcing MOTHER's Gardening and Home-Building Contests!

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We'll pick our semifinalists from among the designs submitted and notify those contestants that they'll need to send us a roll of color slides—by July 7—in order to allow us to see how the gardens are coming along.

Then MOTHER will choose five finalists, contact those lucky gardeners, and arrange to visit their plots to make the final judging in person. And, of course, we'll share the results in a future issue so we can all use the winning gardeners' knowledge to better our own horticultural efforts!

"HOMING IN" ON LOW-COST SHELTERS

Our second contest aims to reward those of you who are breaking new ground in the design of low-cost dwellings. To qualify, a home must [1] have at least 1,500 square feet of living area, [2] have been occupied by the end of 1984, [3] not have appeared in a previous issue of MOTHER, [4] have been built for a material cost (labor not included) of no more than $15 per square foot, and [5] be able to satisfy a "reasonable" building code. (Again, much of the judging will, by necessity, be subjective.)

To enter, just send us—by May 1—color slides of the home's interior and exterior, a dimensional floor plan, a summary of the house's material cost and its total cost, a brief description of the dwelling, and its date of completion. We'll select three semifinalists from the entries, and that trio will be eligible for either a $500 first prize, a $300 second prize, or a $200 third prize. (The semifinalists will, of course, have to provide additional information prior to the final judging.)

To determine our winners, Master Architect Angus Macdonald will judge the homes for soundness. Then, in addition to having to meet our low-cost criterion, the entries will be scored on such things as comfort and finish, originality of design, durability, aesthetics, and energy efficiency. Finally, the top three homes will be featured in upcoming issues of MOTHER . . . and ought to provide a cornucopia of good ideas for those of us who plan to design our own houses someday but still aren't past the "dreaming" stage!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Incidentally, those of you who've enjoyed Angus Macdonald's previous articles in MOTHER—in issues 67, 74, and 81-86—will be glad to know that we've recently published his book, Building Your Own Earth-Tempered Home: A Construction Man ual. Copies can be ordered for $9.95 plus $1.50 shipping and handling from Mother's Book shelf, 105 Stoney Mountain Rd., Hendersonville, NC 28791.

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