VAIL STEWART RUMLEY | DAILY NEWS

DECOY ASSESSMENT: (Left to right) Judges Jack Cox, Doug Britton and Andy Pope judge a pair of entries into the 2015 North Carolina Decoy Carving Championship on Saturday in Washington. The competition, held by the East Carolina Wildlife Guild, took place in front of a crowd of onlookers at the Peterson Building in downtown Washington. Judges look at everything from how the decoys float, their profiles, color and craftsmanship when picking winners. While beautiful, unfortunately the duck on the right — held by Pope — didn’t float, upending itself in the water each time it was released, leading to that entry’s disqualification from the competition. Past winners of the state decoy carving championships are being displayed through 3 p.m. today at the Turnage Theater gallery, along with the winning artwork for North Carolina Waterfowl Conservation Stamp competition. The exhibits and competition are all part of the East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival, in its 20^th year in Washington.