I feel this is a good waypoint, its not a big standard bench, its got the cool wee carved fisherman, which is what ive submitted. But an appeal says its a carved design that doesnt meet criteria, im sure carved benches actually do under artistic merit
Nominations of benches can be difficult to get approved. What is “art” and what’s artistic are very subjective, sometimes annoyingly so. Reviewers didn’t find this artistic. Niantic reviewers sometimes can be overly strict about somethings.
What I might do if this was my submission is try to research the person named. Memorial benches are definitely eligible (and more easily approved) if the named person is famous or somehow significant to your community. With a little research you may find something interesting about him. This is also a subjective criteria, but with proper description – and supporting info! – these do get approved. I’ve had good luck with memorial benches when I’m able to show how the person is significant to the local community.
If you wanted to try again, I would do a real tight close up of the carving as the main picture and call it “fisherman wood carving” or similar
Mention the memorial bench detail in the description if you want but not in the title as it isnt the point of the nomination, the carving artwork is
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I should also mention that the appeal decision seems incorrect, or at least an incorrect reason is given
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I would suggest a google image search.
Can’t be sure with the screen grab but IMO it looks like a mass produced item. Only an opinion but think its worth checking first.
My initial reaction on seeing the photo was “meh”. It doesn’t feel like a carving as much as what @SlimboyFat71 suggested - a mass produced item.
While Google Lens didn’t bring up anything, doing a regular web search did bring up this:
So, it is mass-produced and can easily be purchased online. @gazzas89 this may be one to pass on.
Is this John famous or something? The bench in that link says the same name as the one OP has.
This was nominated for the carving, not the person it memorializes. @gazzas89 is a pretty active Wayfinder, so I think they know the criteria, hence why the art was chosen as the focus and not the person, who most likely wasn’t notable to the community, per the criteria.
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Well OP, the carving may be a lost cause. But perhaps the memorialized person may not be. Further research is required on your end should you wish to further pursue this bench as a nomination. Or maybe consider it an anchor point for a scenic lookout. I see a lot of water on that map.
That quite the coincidence that the bench they chose to photograph for the website is the one the OP tried nominating.
If I was the OP I would be having a go on the Lottery… 
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