LTHForum.com

At long last, the judges have convened and commiserated and kvetched and reached consensus, and we have winners in the first LTHForum photo contest.

As you'll recall, maybe, there were two categories: one for anybody (except moderators), and one for people who had under 250 posts as of the date of the start of the contest.

The theory behind this was to encourage new folks to pick up a camera and start posting their pics, by ensuring that they'd win at least one category. Well, what it really did to a large extent was encourage folks who'd already posted a lot of pictures at eGullet to post theirs here too. But hey, the rules are the rules, as one of the judges said to me in some legal Latin I don't understand, so we have two winners, both of whom have impressed folks with their fine and mouthwatering photos, one for a long time here, one for a much shorter time so far. And it just gives you newbies who are thinking about taking pictures the opportunity to get some practice in before the next photo contest. (Plus, I'm doing a calendar this year, so some of these other photos in the nominating thread will end up in that.)

So let's see the winners-- but first, let me thank our judges, Gleam, Jim in Logan Square, and Josephine, who put lots of thought and aesthetic judgement into the task:



I really appreciate that they took this seriously and ran with it. Here's what they selected:

Special Citation From The Judges:

This was awarded by the judges to a photo which just missed the opening deadline for the contest. It's probably just as well that it didn't win the prize of being printed and framed, I'm not sure you'd want to look at this day after day. But just as a photo that captures the LTHForum aesthetic, they said wow, and it's hard not to agree:



Hare Ragu, by Bridgestone

Thanks to Trixie-Pea for nominating this one.

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Prize For New Food Photo Posters (Under 250 Total Posts As Of The Start of the Contest):

This went to a photo which many of us have tasted:



Pulled pork sandwich from Smoque, by Ronnie Suburban.

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Prize Open To All:

And our final prize goes to:



Yook Hwe (Korean beef tartare), San Soo Gab San, by Stevez.

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Thanks again to everyone who nominated something (if you haven't seen it, check out the way cool nominating thread), to the judges, and to everyone who takes photos and shares them here.

I would like to thank the judges and especially JiLS for nominating my picture, although with all the great photography that was submitted for the contest, I have no idea why my picture was chosen. Thanks again!

Wow! Considering all the amazing photography that is shared at LTHForum.com, I really feel honored to have earned a mention here. Of course, it helps a lot when the food you are shooting is so photogenic.

Thanks to the judges and also to JimInLoganSquare for nominating my picture!

=R=