North American Plant study group?

rockm

Uh, won where? In which "international" competition? The JAL competition? The BCI awards? what?

For what it's worth, read more about the selections there in some of the posts on IBC by Walter P. and others might shed some light on how some of the international competitions work. Composition isn't everything, apparently, in them

For what it's worth, yes. S.E. Asian species make nice bonsai, so do Japanese black pine. More to your argument, beyond ficus, JBP grown in Europe and the West coast of the U.S. have produced some pretty spectacular bonsai. Same for Scots pine bonsai grown in the U.S....