I'm what's been called a harvester, which is what most of us are. I don't love skinning; I love skins and skinners. I'm also new to the concept of skinning; however, I turn on my wincustomize browse every night and see what's new. I have been through the entire WindowBlinds and IconPackager libraries and visited many sites. I'm not a casual user, I have downloaded several thousand skins, and on dialup at that. I'm saying all this to provide a background to my observations.                                 Right from the beginning of this contest, it became apparent that the level of artistry in the skinning world has taken a great leap forward, and as the days went by, that level increased. The originality is amazing; if you don't have to have a picture of a computer as a My Computer icon, for instance, then you're in heaven. The WB skins are great, as well. Look at how many excellent skins we have here, and think how hard it will be to pick a winner.                                                                   Another thing is that we are walking the virtual halls with most of the greatest skinners on the planet (I'm thinking of treetog especially, who is all over the place) and they are offering their comments and advice freely.                                                I'd like to offer my thanks to all the artists who submitted their work, and to the organizers who made this happen; it's quite a change from the 2006 championships.