I attended the IPMS National Convention in San Marcos, Texas last week. I also joined the tour to the WWII Museum of the Pacific (AKA the Nimitz Museum) in Fredericksburg. A number of members asked me to share pictures from the contest, so I uploaded the pics I took to my Flickr account. – Frank Ress.
Links to the albums of photos from the contest and the museum are provided below:
Contest photos (Including a series of photos of each of the category winners, which were the only ones announced before the awards banquet. The pictures are arranged chronologically, so the winners will be found near the end of the collection.)
IPMS National Convention (photos by Blake Krass) – More pictures of contest entries, taken by a friend of mine.
IPMS - Capt. James J. McKinstry Chapter 
I want to call your attention to the first set of pictures, of a large shipwreck on a beach. This was actually the first model I looked at. I went to the far corner of the contest hall the morning of the first day to take a panorama shot of the hall while it was still mostly empty. After I did that, I noticed a couple of guys standing around this diorama talking about it, and I stopped to take a look. I was really impressed, and one of the guys in the conversation was the builder.
The composition of this diorama was outstanding, and the water was incredible – some of the most realistic I’ve seen. The individual elements were extremely well crafted. Fishing poles and lines that showed accurate tension. Numerous vignettes with figures on the beach and in the fishing boat. The rust on the wreck was made using cinnamon!
I went back a couple days later to take pics of his build log, to record what he said about how he created the water. As many incredible models as there were at the convention, I still voted for this one for the Jim Sage award. Too bad that my pics just can’t do it justice.