Erica Courtney Wins WJA 2011 Diva Awards Competition

The winner of this year's WJA Diva Awards competition is Erica Courtney with her Helen Bracelet. Erica created this special clasp at the center of the piece while her mother's jewelry made up the bracelet potion of the piece. This year's competition theme was renewable, reusable or green designs. Erica's repurposing of her mother's jewelry is such a creative way of designing a jewelry piece that its no wonder she was awarded the top award.

Along with a trophy, Erica Courtney was presented with $750 which she gave right back to WJA for their use. Even before the award was announced, this piece was generating buzz. After the award was given, the Helen bracelet became the talk of Las Vegas during the recent trade shows and it continues to make headlines.

Congratulations to Erica Courtney for winning this year's WJA Diva design competition award.

Rhonda Faber Green Wins Honorable Mention At WJA Awards 2011

Rhonda Faber Green's incredible Juliet Flower ring featuring over 19 carats of Zultanite in the center won honorable mention at WJA's 2011 Diva Awards. The flower ring also contains 3.54 carats of diamonds and color changing garnet accents. But of course the true color changing star (or stone, actually) of this ring is Zultanite!

Zultanite changes color as lighting conditions change. In sunlight you'll see a kiwi green while in candlelight, a rosy red comes through. On some occasions, mixed light will make all of Zultanite's possible colors pop out in an amazing display of color changing goodness.

Congratulations to Rhonda Faber Green for designing such a wonderful piece and being honored by the WJA this year.

JQ Intl: 24 Karat Club & WJA 'Meet The Media' Event Coverage

Check out JQ Intl's website for a great wrap up of the 24 Karat and WJA 'Meet The Media' event held this month in Los Angeles at the Andaz hotel. This first ever co-hosted event was a great success and the Southern California jewelry crowd is still talking about the panel discussion. For more information on the two organizations, click through to their website.

• 24 Karat Club
• Women's Jewelry Association

JCK - CA Jewelry Groups Meet the Media

Calif. Jewelry Groups Meet the Media - Jewelers' Circular Keystone - JCK

Last week we brought two great groups in the California jewelry scene together for the Meet The Media event. Randi Molofsky Lithgow, curator for Portero.com, moderated the event with fashion editor and photographer Helen Kay, celebrity stylist Kit Scarbo, and JCK Magazine Victoria Gomelsky discussing their points of view from the media side of the business.

Click through to see JCK's write up of the event.

evelynH. Jewelry Rocks Diamond Empowerment Fund’s “Dallas Rocks” Gala

Young jewelry designer, Evelyn Huang, of evelynH. Jewelry, partnered with Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F.) during their annual “Dallas Rocks” gala event to auction off her 2009 Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA) DIVA award-winning earrings. The event, hosted by D.E.F. founder Russell Simmons and actor Anthony Anderson of Law and Order, took place on Saturday, November 14 at the historic Union Station in Dallas, Texas.

D.E.F, founded in 2007 by Russell Simmons, is an international non-profit organization with the mission to raise funds to support educational initiatives, which develop and empower the economically disadvantaged in African nations where diamonds are a natural resource.

D.E.F.’s "Rising Star Empowerment Award" was presented to the Bush twins, Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush Hager. Jenna Bush Hager showcased the evelynH. award-winning “Africa’s Hope Diamond Drop” earrings by wearing the earrings during the gala. Russell Simmons made the final bid on the evelynH. earrings and presented them to Barbara Bush as a gift for her support of D.E.F. and her work at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Capetown, South Africa.

The evelynH. “Africa’s Hope Diamond Drops” feature 3.54 carats total weight of African Emeralds, 4.89 carats total weight of colorless diamonds and is set in 18 karat white gold. The earrings are valued at over $19,000.00 USD. Evelyn selected African emeralds because the color green represents hope and one of the Earth’s natural resources, along with being the symbolic color for both D.E.F. and evelynH. The teardrop design is also reminiscent of an Angel’s harp, which is emblematic of the D.E.F.’s celebrity ambassadors called “Africa’s Angels.” Celebrity angel ambassadors include South African supermodel Nicola Breytenbach and reality star Kim Kardashian. Evelyn was introduced to Russell Simmons and the D.E.F. through her recent win at the WJA DIVA Competition.



“As a designer, I always seek to create beauty and meaning with my designs.” Evelyn continues, “As a human being, I am honored the ‘Africa’s Hope’ earrings will be worn by Barbara Bush, who cares so deeply about the mission of the D.E.F. and all the special individuals that the proceeds from these earrings will inevitably touch.”