Winners of the 2004 River Cities' Reader Photo Contest

The River Cities' Reader's photo contest is getting bigger. Much bigger. In its inaugural edition last year, the contest received roughly 80 entries. This year, we got 105. And while we published 12 winners a year ago, we're giving you 15 in this issue.

Among these favorites is a stunning variety, from the sharp contrast and shapes of Ben Barndollar's picture of Sacred Heart Church to David Van Meter's farmscape in which everything is diffuse; from the sense of place evoked by Becky L. Cook's and Bill Bacallan's "people" photographs to the personality expressed in pictures by Shannon Colgan and Elly Gerdts; from the strong, provocative imagery of Randy Williams' digitally manipulated photo to the intensely detailed "1000" by Bruce Walters.

We received by far the most entries in the "People" category - 52, nearly half the total. "Places" generated 35 submissions, while "Digitally Altered" garnered 18. The Reader staff judged the contest with help from freelance photographer Brian Barkley.

Thank you for all your entries, and enjoy. We plan on bringing you an even bigger contest next year.

People

First Place: "Big Brown Shark" by Shannon Colgan

Second Place: by Renée Busha

Third Place: by Elly Gerdts

Third Place: "Joli" by Bill Bacallan

Honorable Mention: "Hannah at the Carnival" by Becky L. Cook

Quad Cities Places

First Place: "Alter Bettendorf Warehouse" by Andry Frick

Second Place: by David Van Meter

Third Place: by Ben Barndollar

Honorable Mention: "Mississippi Mistery" by Macario Lopez

Honorable Mention: by Kristina Dinquel

Digitally Altered

First Place: by Randy Williams

Second Place: "1000" by Bruce Walters

Third Place: by Bruce Walters

Honorable Mention: "Coming Home" by Rick Haney

Honorable Mention: by Allen Litscher