British Columbia gave an art contest, but nobody won. Jurors decided the entries just weren't good enough. ``It was a difficult situation but it wasn't a difficult decision,'' said Willard Holmes, director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Holmes was among the jurors who decided that none of the 380 entries deserved any of the $10,000 in prize money. But the show will go on. Even though prize money has not been awarded, the 20-odd finalists will be displayed at an exhibition opening Oct. 11. The contest was organized by the Federation of Canadian Artists and sponsored by Canadian Forest Products Ltd. The theme of the competition, for which only British Columbia artists were eligible, was ``water and its usefulness to industry.'' About 380 entries by 300 artists were submitted. ``We didn't see any work which we felt we could support for the prizes,'' Holmes said Tuesday. ``I had reservations about taking part in this event and those reservations have been confirmed.'' He said the jurors first looked at color slides of all the entries and couldn't reach a decision. They then looked at the originals of about 20 potential winners without success. Canada Forest spokesman Gordon Armstrong said his company was disappointed with the jury decision but has told the artist federation to keep the prize money and use it as it sees fit.
