3 Ratings / 8 Comments
The Dallas Morning News photographers have spoken.
Led by Pulitzer Prize winner Irwin Thompson, deputy photo editor at The News, a three-person panel has unanimously selected “The Thrill Of It All” as the grand-prize winner of the neighborsgo 2009 Hit Us With Your Best Shot photo contest.
The judges admired the image’s composition and called it an instant classic.
“This is a timeless photo,” Thompson said. “Put it in black and white, and it could be the 1940s or the 1920s, even.”
Allan Koenig of North Dallas, who snapped the shot of his 3-year-old daughter, Margaret, on his iPhone, said he was honored to win our third annual State Fair photo contest.
“The competition was pretty stiff,” he said. “But we had fun with this.”
The photo, which also won the Week Three portion of our photo contest, perfectly captured the mood of this year’s State Fair, where rain and overcast skies were present for 14 of its 24 days.
Despite the dreary weather, fairgoers posted more than 800 images to neighborsgo.com, surpassing the 500 sent in 2008 and the 450 shared in 2007.
In addition to getting his photo on the cover of all 17 print neighborsgo editions this week, Allan will receive an engraved, orange Apple video nano, a $25 iTunes gift card, two tickets to a Dallas Mavericks game, two tickets to a Dallas Stars game and a framed copy of his winning cover.
Congratulations to Allan and our finalists, and a big thanks to all the readers who shared their State Fair experiences with us.
Good luck next year, everyone!
Here's a list of the 30 finalists in the neighborsgo 2009 Hit Us With Your Best Shot photo contest, with a link to each entry. Here's a mosaic of all 30 images. To see all 30 finalists in a brief photoplay, visit neighborsgo.com/video/2093 (You can also click on the images below the list to access the photoplay and mosaic.)
- The Thrill of It All by Allan Koenig of Dallas (Grand prize, Week 3 winner)
- Sleigh Motion by Gail Atwater (2nd place overall)
- Big Owen by Clay Coleman of Dallas (3rd place overall)
- Splash Zone by Rachel Plumley of McKinney (Honorable mention overall, Week 2 winner)
Shadow Splash, Foggy Fair, Logged In and Neon Midway by Rhiannon Lee of Mesquite
- Catnap and Jet Pilot by Andie Smith of Denton County
Star Bright and Big Texplosion by Cathy Hamm of North Dallas
- Highs and Lows by Laura Shaheen of McKinney
- Midway Nights by Tom B. of North Dallas
- Bird of the World by Dawn Segroves
- Butterfly by Amy Maxey of Coppell
- Eyes Wide Shut by Shelby Bennett of Coppell
- Parade Wave by Jennifer Walz of Dallas
- Zebra Vision by Sandy Winkel of Rockwall
- Mammoth Shot by Kelley Huebner of Lake Highlands
- Cotton Candy Girls by Holly Peck of Allen
- Bike Magic by H. Richard Gallo of Arlington
- Focused on Fun by Roxanne Ramirez of Flower Mound
- Kiss The Sky by Vena Martin of The Colony
- Six Little Piggies by Karl Kiser
- Done For The Day by Greg Gibson of Lakewood
- Aqua Tex by Christine Sottile of Richardson
- Lexi Ride by Kyanne Todd of Carrollton
- Jason Castro by Donna Michalko of King of Prussia, Pa.
- Corny Face by Christy Robbins of Plano (Week 1 winner)
