And the winner is....

Well.... the votes have been counted and the verdict is in!

I allow our panel of voters to send in their top three choices and for each 1st place vote a photo gets 5 points, for each second place vote a photo gets 3 points and for each third place vote a photo gets 1 point.

And the photo of the Holy Bible opened to the Christmas Story got 30 Points!

But.... I am going to have to disqualify it because it is my entry and I'm the teacher, so I am exempt from winning. I am also a professional photographer so I have an unfair advantage over the students.

So.... why did I bother submitting a photo?

The reason is really pretty simple. I was trying to demonstrate something for learning purposes. I snapped the photo rather quickly with my play camera in auto (green box) mode. It's not perfectly focused and it's not perfectly framed. But - it has MEANING! To anyone who celebrates Christ birth at Christmas time this photo says CHRISTMAS much more clearly than the others. It doesn't just draw the viewers eye..... it goes for the HEART as well.

Pictures should do just that. They should draw your eye to the subject.... but they should also have some sort of emotional impact. They should tug at your heart strings and make you feel something.

I hope my little demonstration gets that message across!

So... who REALLY won?

The photo with the next highest number of votes is this one! A Christmas tree shot by Hannah!

Congratulations, Hannah for being our new winner!