Question: Could there be a more luxe product recommendation list than one with a $17,000 handcrafted motorized boat?
Answer: Probably not.
Atlantan Ed Duggan has experienced the soaring attention that comes with landing on such a register — Garden & Gun put his handcrafted skiffs in the runner-up slot for the magazine’s 2014 Made in the South Awards outdoor category — and orders began rolling in.
“It was crazy,” Duggan, 85, recalled to the AJC. “I was perfectly content to build one or two boats a year, but Garden & Gun started this off.”
Credit: Contributed by Ed Duggan
Credit: Contributed by Ed Duggan
The awards mark their 15th anniversary this year, and just as they did when they spotted Duggan’s talent, Garden & Gun editors know Atlantans have a profound influence on Southern culture. They’re hoping to see the city’s senior creators step up in a big way with entries for this milestone cycle.
A little extravagance
The awards encompass five main areas: home, crafts, food, drinks, outdoors and style. And there’s a special sustainability award. The collection feels meant to bring a little extravagance into everyday life — it’s an embodiment of the magazine’s aesthetic, and it’s a big opportunity for those who place.
“The Made in the South Awards started 15 years ago as a way to celebrate the craftsmanship and the talent of Southern makers,” said Dave DiBenedetto, Garden & Gun editor-in-chief. “I think the first year, we got about 250, 300 entries, and we had a great contest. Since then, we get anywhere from 800 to 1,000 entries per contest.”
Credit: Contributed by Garden & Gun
Credit: Contributed by Garden & Gun
Placers usually end up experiencing an exponential increase in business, and Dibenedetto said it’s important they’re prepared. Sometimes, side gigs become full-time pursuits as a result, and the magazine looks for nominees who seem able to support the inevitable influx in sales.
“We hear it year after year how just being nominated or winning changes the path of these small businesses,” he said.
Older adults are often in a unique position to turn creative pursuits into profitable endeavors.
“Seniors are in some ways in the catbird seat. A lot of these folks have a passion, they have a hobby. They’ve retired, but they still have the energy and the drive to have a business. This is about really taking that to the next level,” DiBenedetto said.
The boat business
Duggan, a Perry native with an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, produced his lithe crafts up until last year. He gave the last one to his son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Caroline Duggan. It was a fitting gift — Jim suggested a decade ago that his father enter the Made in the South contest.
The 16-foot-long skiffs are made of sapele mahogany and can accommodate five passengers. An electric motor with a large battery lets them run all day. Ed, a former product designer, and a Navy veteran, took up the hobby in his retirement and built the boats in his backyard. The awards were a vehicle for selling a product he wasn’t sure how to publicize.
“I had no idea how to market them. Jim suggested entering the Garden & Gun contest, and it worked. I could have sold a lot more than I was capable of building,” he said.
Unlike many products that place in Made in the South, Ed’s boats were such a project that he never ended up mass-producing them. But a photo of one of the skiffs, glossy and bobbing in the water, eventually made it into the magazine with a price tag of “about $17,000.”
Although Ed is out of the boat business, he’s hung on to relationships they helped him start.
“I love meeting the people that I sell the boats to, and I’m still in contact with some of them,” he said. “I just found really interesting, great people.”
What wins the contest
The deadline for Made in the South submissions and a shot at the $15,000 grand prize this year is June 17. DiBenedetto said the magazine is looking for best-in-class ideas or innovative spins on existing concepts. He noted a boiled peanut dip was a food runner-up last year.
“It was great,” he said. “It was like hummus.”
A great narrative helps, too.
“It’s always nice to have a story to tell with a great product,” he said.
Readers look out for the results in the December/January edition each year, encased in the magazine’s signature crisp, spare layout with a backstory for each item. DiBenedetto said Atlanta has brought the publication its biggest portion of subscribers from a single Southern city.
“We’ve got nearly 400,000 subscribers. Atlanta is a big chunk,” he said. “You can’t deny the impact of Atlanta on the South … We just feel like we’ve got such a great fan base there — folks who understand the magazine and who appreciate what Garden & Gun is about.”
To enter Made in the South, visit gardenandgun.com/made-in-the-south-awards.
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