Once again, THANK YOU to everyone who participated. We understand that this is a strenuous contest. Teams must have stamina, be strategic, and of course be talented photographers. We hope to continue to have great random prizes to give away throughout the contest so that beginners can win prizes too. Beginning photographers who have now played the last two years have also told us that the contest helps them to gain skill and improve their thinking when it comes to choosing a subject and choosing composition. Of course we also want to improve, so any feedback regarding this (now only 2-year old) competition would be welcomed.
This year, we had one clear winner for 1st place early on, and the rest were VERY close. In fact, many of the teams tied for 3rd, 4th and 5th place. The difference between these places were just one vote.
Here is a re-cap of how we judge: Judges are sent 48 individual emails with the category in the subject line. The judges see screenshots of the images up for judging in that particular category so the contest is completely blind judged. If we have an even amount of volunteer full-time judges, we have a separate tie-breaker judge who also blind judges. We tally up how many categories each team has won and that determines our winner. Starting next year, if we have ties for the number of category wins, we will tie-break those by looking to see which team has submitted the most photos. And now onto the winners…..
In 6th place we have a 3-way tie including….
Northern Sky Force, Grand Rapids
Winning Category: Cold
Team Mario, Hutchinson
Winning Category: Phone
E.B. Photography, Montrose
Winning Category: Reflection
In 5th place we have a 4-way tie including….
Hardel Duo, Waconia
Winning Categories: Gourmet, Candy
Bazingas, Waconia
Winning Categories: Books, Hot
Minnesota Exposure, Woodbury
Winning Categories: Bar, Magnified
DL Horizon Line, Detroit Lakes
Winning Categories: Technology, Windmill
The 4th Place the winner is:
Aperture Science, Hutchinson
Winning Categories: Car, Cat, Dog, Leaf
The 3rd Place winners are… (a tie!)….
Capturing 48, Mankato
Winning Categories: Fire, Home, Power, Letters, Prize
Team David, Becky & Julie, Hutchinson and Watertown
Winning Categories: Fence, Clock, Rock, Rusty, Crackle
The 2nd Place winner is. . .
Cherry-O, Prior Lake
Winning Categories: Medicine, Snap, Taco, Beast, Sharp, Bank
And the first place winner is….
BarnChasers, Prior Lake
Winning Categories: Bubble, Baseball, Speed, Lake, Flower, Bird, Space, Tent, Garden, Glasses, Eye, Game, Illusion, Skate, Dispenser, Pop, Candlelight
Emails will be sent in order to claim prizes for the 1st-3rd place winners. Thanks again and hope to see you all next year!