post by leslie

Back in May, I got a call from London. On my land line.So that was weird.It was a coordinator for a photo competition that I had entered on a whim, and I was shocked.A while back (like last fall), I was looking through the "Dog Photographer of the Year" winners, and I clicked on how to enter, made a note of the entry date on my google calendar and forgot about it. Then, this year, that item popped up on my calendar and I put off the entry for about a week. As the deadline approached, I took a deep breath, spent 30 minutes deciding on images, and threw together an entry figuring I would never hear a word and it was all a waste of time.But it wasn't.This wonderful Brit on the other end of the line was telling me that I had placed second in the category for rescue dogs and that I had scored an honorable mention in the working dogs category! I was STUNNED. And thrilled.She told me because I came in second, there was no real prize, but the recognition (which I'm thrilled with, thank you very much). She said they had more than 10,000 entries from more than 70 countries world wide. She also told me I could not, under any circumstances, tell anyone about this until mid-July. I had to keep my mouth shut for TWO MONTHS. As you know, keeping my mouth shut is not my strong suit.But I did it! I highly suggest you click through and check out the winners of each category -- they are truly fantastic images. And the honorable mentions are not online, so I'll put that one below. Enjoy!