By John Zaktansky
The Daily Item
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The Susquehanna Valley offers a variety of outdoor venues to savor with family and friends.
From wildflowers to wildlife, the 216 amazingly diverse pictures that were submitted this summer from readers of the Daily Item offered a colorful glimpse into outdoor treasures both local and abroad.
The hard part was choosing the winners.
Making 216 into 10. It was much harder math than one would think.
We had 12 judges, representing local photographers, figureheads in the art scene and outdoor enthusiasts.
Among the 12 judges, no two shared the same favorite photo. In fact, of the 216 en tries, 61 of them got at least one vote. It was so close, we had to narrow the field and then narrow it again. There was much debate, as each judge rallied behind his/her favorite shots.
Finally, based on a specialized scoring system and tons of feedback, the top 10 were selected.
Prizes were collected from very generous local businesses, photos were processed and uploaded into the pagination system, pages were laid out and copy was edited. Hours upon hours of volunteered time merged into the final photo package you see here today.
For most, these selections are total surprises. Winning photographers were mostly unavailable for comment Wednesday night. We’ll share some of their comments and feedback next Thursday on our weekly Great Outdoors page.
For now, we can all sit back, check out each photo one by one and let them take us each back to memories and fun times of our own in the outdoors and of summer days past.
Thank you, everyone, for making this project a very big success.
-- E-mail comments to jzaktansky@dailyitem.com
Online photos
Contact
If you were selected as a winner of the photo contest, please contact John Zaktansky via e-mail at jzaktansky@dailyitem.com or at the Daily Item office evenings after 4pm at 286- 5671, Ext. 291.
Prizes
Prizes will be awarded in the order photos were selected, with the top photographer having first choice of prize, and so on.
Prizes donated and generous businesses included:
— $100 gift certificate to Runners Roost, Sunbury
— Two free kayak rentals from Vargo Outdoors, of Lewisburg
— Family fun pack certificate for the corn maze at Ard’s Farm outside of Lewisburg.
n Gift certificate from Rail and Trail Tack, located in Brookpark Farms, Lewisburg
— Gift certificate to Shade Mountain Winery, Middleburg
— Free bike tune-up from Big Earl’s Bike Shop in Mifflinburg
— Bag of premium dog food from Warrior Run Petcare Center, Watsontown
— Gift certificates from The Daily Item, Sunbury
JUDGES
Wading through 216 really impressive photos and narrowing down the choices was no easy task. It took plenty of time and energy from a diverse group of volunteer judges.
They included:
— Robert Inglis, Daily Item photographer
— Matthew Harris, Daily Item photographer
— Liz Rohde, Daily Item photographer
— Angela Haines, art instructor for the YMCA
— Ken Maurer, local fishing guide and longtime Daily Item outdoor writer
— Connie Mertz, lifetime outdoor enthusiast and longtime Daily Item outdoor writer
— Bill Munroe, herpetologist, longtime nature enthusiast and graphic design guru
— Bob Garrett, lifetime outdoor enthusiast, longtime Scoutmaster for New Berlin Boy Scout troop and Daily Item outdoor writer
— Lori Luckenbaugh, longtime outdoor enthusiast and occasional contributor to Daily Item outdoors pages
— Aubrey Derk, former Daily Item graphic design guru
— Jacey and Billy Crayton, outdoor and photography enthusiasts. Jacey was top winner of Daily Item youth outdoor writing contest.
