Not sure if its the same elsewhere, but I know in my neck of the woods (southwest Ohio) there are a bunch of small competitions for amateurs going on constantly. Usually run by groups of ladies that have met up, either through the pta or various craft things. Was the same way when I was in chicago as well. They are just hard to find, and more times than not, they actually find you before you find them. I just had one of these groups find me, they were having a fundraiser for various christmas kids charities in the area, and having a bake sale, silent auction, and a competition, they approached me to make a chocolate sculpture, and to do some sugar work for them to auction. Gotta say its the first sugar or chocolate work I've done in a few years, but didnt turn out too bad. Did a chocolate christmas tree decorated with gifts and such, then about 20 different pulled and blown sugar ornaments and such. Lots of fun, Hopefully they will make a ton of money with them this saturday at the auction. But It seems they have stuff nearly every month, and pointed out 3 other groups that do the same thing. So hang in there, they are out there, you just need to find them....usually a good source are little old ladies, I do special dinners at the local senior center on sunday nights, and thats how they tracked me down, one little old lady tells another and so on....