Gilles Prud’homme proudly displays four carvings of his that recently won him recognition at the World Wildfowl Carving Championships held at Ocean City, Maryland recently.

Prud’homme became interested in developing this skill while watching his father, Aurele. He then began sculpting birds around 1992 and has advanced his artistic talents to an extremely high level. The Ocean City event is the largest of its kind in the world with three different skill levels: novice, intermediate and advanced. Gilles competes at the advanced level.

The Black Throated Blue Warbler on the far left won 2^nd place in both of the Decorative Miniature Wildfowl and Songbirds ‘A’  categories. The Burrowing Owl, beside it was 2^nd in the Birds of Prey Category. The White Throated Sparrow, 2^nd from the right, was Prud’homme’s big winner. It not only took 1^st place in the Songbirds ‘B’ Category, it also came in 3^rd Place in the Best of Show Category. The Mourning Dove on the right took 1^st place in the Songbirds ‘C’ division.

Prud’homme, who works as an electrician at INCO’s South Mine, has been a resident of McCrea Heights for the past 12 years, where he and his wife, Jennifer has raised their two daughters, Malinda (14) and Meagan (12).