In less than two hours, all the votes of the more than 1,000 contestants had been cast.
When the host invited the special guests in the front row to vote, the venue fell silent instantly.
Someone noticed.
Some people arrived late and only heard whispers around them, talking about editors-in-chief, big shots, stylists, and so on.
It wasn't until the host announced the special guests that the designers in the back row realized who they were, and someone in the front row stood up to acknowledge them.
"Isn't that VG's editor-in-chief? Oh my god, she's here too!"
"That's Pierre, Tina's personal stylist."
"Hasn't the female demon appeared in a long time? In the VG interview the day before yesterday, my goddess said she went on vacation to Hawaii. I didn't expect her to come back in time!"
"..."
The finalists in the front row were excited.
The designers in the back row were even more excited.
The designers, who had originally planned to return to their respective countries after the finals, exchanged glances, their excitement evident in their eyes.
Art is a very subjective and mysterious thing.
A piece of jewelry might be disliked by a master craftsman, but it could also be loved to the point of madness by someone else.
Last year at the Radiant Colors competition, there was a contestant who was eliminated in the preliminary round, but his work was noticed by the editor-in-chief of VG.
Not only did they buy the jewelry in a lavish manner, but they also featured it in a magazine article.
The work of the eliminated contestant was prominently displayed among them.
He then quickly became popular.
He left his studio to start his own personal brand and made a name for himself.
In just a few months, the designer who was eliminated in the preliminary round became the best creative designer of the year, frequently appearing at major international jewelry exhibitions and gaining fame.
Even if they can't have the same circumstances, the works submitted to the competition represent the designers' best recent inspirations.
If it were to be spotted and bought by a big shot, that would be a considerable sum of money.
Not to mention, Pierre had just bought one of the works from Dane Studio.
There are countless examples of success; who knows, you might be the next one!
The host introduces the special guest.
The special guests got up one after another, some waving to the designers, others walking towards the exhibition hall in twos and threes.
The applause from the audience was deafening.
On the big screen, the nine-grid image merged into one, and the camera followed the group of special guests forward.
The venue was completely silent.
More than a thousand people stared intently at the screen, seemingly trying to discern the preferences of each special guest, so that they could then present their work at the subsequent reception with a clear and precise objective.
The 151 finalists were even more nervous.
Staring intently at the display case in the picture, it seemed as if they wanted to find their own work as soon as possible, and observe who would stop to admire it, in order to estimate whether they could enter that unattainable final round.
The invited guests returned to the venue more than half an hour later.
The already silent venue became even quieter.
"The voting results are in..."
As soon as the host opened his mouth, over a thousand pairs of eyes focused on him.
Immediately afterwards, the big screen flashed, displaying the votes for all 151 contestants.
The votes are arranged from highest to lowest.
Dai Qingzhou spotted Lydia's name at a glance.
Upon seeing No. 9 before her name, her face lit up with joy.
Just as a smile appeared on her face, Dai Qingzhou saw Ye Li, who was ranked ahead of Lydia, and her expression turned to shock.
How...how is that possible?
No. 1: Belly, 62 votes, France
No. 2: Alex, 59 votes, USA
...
No. 6: Ye Li, 56 votes, China
...
No. 9: Lydia, 48 votes, China
...
No. 151: Thousand Island dressing, 0 votes, Japan
I kept telling myself that this wasn't the final result yet, since each judge had 20 votes, which was the final deciding factor, and the current ranking didn't matter.
Meanwhile, her heart was pounding uncontrollably.
Dai Qingzhou couldn't understand how Ye Li, a fledgling designer, could be ranked ahead of senior designers at a big studio like Lydia.
Fortunately, Lydia made it into the top ten, giving her a much better chance of winning the trophy than the other hundred or so people.
As her heartbeat gradually calmed down, Dai Qingzhou still couldn't help but sit up straight.
In the front row of the venue, Ye Li stared intently at the rankings on the big screen.
Look at the names on the screen.
Looking at the notes in the phone's chat window, I saw they were notes she had taken during the competition.
The designers whose works impressed her in the preliminary rounds are now mostly among the top performers.
This includes the few who competed against her on the semi-final stage.
very nice!
This feeling of being able to learn from each other and make progress together is just... awesome!
"Now, the most tense and exciting moment has arrived!"
The host's voice brought everyone back to reality, "Now, all 151 works are on the tablets in the judges' hands. The final decision on who wins based on the votes of the 10 judges is crucial!"
Each judge has 20 votes, which can almost determine a contestant's ranking.
In other words, if all 10 judges cast their votes for the dozen or so contestants at the bottom of the list who received zero votes, that designer could instantly become the champion of this competition.
The already tense atmosphere instantly became even more tense.
"The first one, Master Dimon..."
As the host began to speak, Master Dimon lowered his head to vote.
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