PHOTO CONTEST 2008 WINNERS

Here are the winning photos from the 2008 Kibbitz in the Catskills Photo Contest.

The response to the photo contest was again overwhelming! We received exactly 125 entries to the contest, and narrowing it down to five winners was a monumental task. Our sincere thanks to Terry Auspitz, Dave Liebman and Liz Friedman (Jerry was out of the country) for their hours of discussion and deliberation in choosing the winners. Thanks also to Terry for managing the contest, sorting the entries, and building the gallery website.

The winning entries are posted below. A complete gallery of all submitted photos with thumbnails and full-size photos has been posted. Please click the above link to view.

A couple notes about the judging this year. After much deliberation, a winner was chosen in each of the five categories. We then attempted to select the "Best in Show" winner from those five. We deliberated long and hard and felt that there were two entries that deserved special recognition - so decided to give prizes for Best in Show - First Place and Best in Show - Second Place. The first place winner will receive a $50 REI Gift Card, and the second place winner will receive a $40 REI Gift Card. The other three category winners will each receive $a $25 gift card. But here's where it got tricky. After bumping up the scenery category winner to Best in Show, we went back to select a second place in the category to be the new category winner. The problem we ran into is that our next four favorites in the category were submitted by people who had already won gift cards in other categories. And in the people category, we could not come to consensus on which photo was next best. So, the decision was made to only give the five awards this year, and to give Honorable Mentions to all the shots that we thought deserved a special call-out. Thanks to everyone who entered and for all of the fabulous shots that were submitted!

So, without further ado, here are our winners.

BEST IN SHOW - FIRST PLACE (Scenery): Millbrook Mountain Overhang by Michael Mackaplow
BEST IN SHOW - SECOND PLACE (People): Does That Look Mean She Likes Me? by Michael Kolber


WINNER Action: Shout! by Joel Schneider


WINNER Flowers & Plants: What? by Diane Gish


WINNER Critters: Slimy Creature Eating Mushroom on Tree by Bonnie Rubin


HONORABLE MENTION Scenery Hudson River from Storm King Mountain by Michael Mackaplow


HONORABLE MENTION Scenery: Solitude by Bonnie Rubin


HONORABLE MENTION Scenery: Secret Waterfall by Bonnie Rubin


HONORABLE MENTION Scenery Wonderful Night 1 (starscape) by Michael Kolber


HONORABLE MENTION Scenery: Catskills Silhouettes by Susan Wolfson


HONORABLE MENTION Scenery: Hudson Valley Winersby Dorrie Rifkin


HONORABLE MENTION People Half a Kennedy by Dorrie Rifkin


HONORABLE MENTION People: Hats Off to Bonticou Crag by Susan Wolfson


HONORABLE MENTION People: Millbrook Mountain Hiking Groupby Michael Brochstein


HONORABLE MENTION People Mohonk Maiden by Amy Louise Goldberg


HONORABLE MENTION Flowers & Plants: A Fungus Among Us by Michael Kolber


HONORABLE MENTION Flowers & Plants: Flowers on the Bike Trip!by Deborah Arbit


HONORABLE MENTION Flowers & Plants: Basha Kill Pretty Flowers by Dorrie Rifkin


HONORABLE MENTION Flowers & Plants:Rapturous Roses by Amy Louise Goldberg


HONORABLE MENTION Critters: Hungry Young Alpaca by Deborah Arbit


HONORABLE MENTION Critters: En Routeby Amy Louise Goldberg


HONORABLE MENTION Action:Dan Gabbay Sampling the Rocks by Mindy Loebner


HONORABLE MENTION Action:Balancing Act, Bonticou Rock Scramble by Susan Wolfson


© 2008 Mosaic Outdoor Clubs of America. All rights reserved.

Again -- you can visit the GALLERY to see all photos submitted.

Thanks to EVERYONE for the great entries. We look forward to seeing you in 2009!



© 2008 Mosaic Outdoor Clubs of America. All rights reserved.