Wow, superhugecongratulations, Freezingpics - yet another honour for that fabulous image of yours!

Which prize are you going to pick?

This is the thread with the winners:

http://www.stockxpert.com/forum.phtml?f=showtopic&n=5711

Congrats, Freeze!  The loneliness of the penguin is touching. 

Regards,
Adelaide

Congrats! Great image.

Well I must agree with the critiques.  Both images don't really visualize the theme. 

But it's not the fault of the photographers they were chosen, I think the judges didn't do their job very good.

Nevertheless, someone has to win.  and then I rather like someone from 'us' to win then a complete outsider )  So enjoy your cam little penguin )

Jan, all great things seem to fall subject to controversy.  I'm sorry your moment is being somewhat overshadowed by the category discussion on this an StockXpert's forum.  Your photo is definitely 1) high concept 2) pleasing to the eye 3) thought provoking 4) an all around winner.  The first time I saw it I thought of the polar bears stranded on ice flows, polar caps shrinking, etc.  I think it is definitely a green concept.  And like one of the judges pointed out, he does look optimistic about his predicament.  It's also a good stock photo because it could be useful to so many different markets.  Have you enjoyed many sales with this little guy?

We can all celebrate that our "little penguin" (LOL Perrush!) has been chosen. 

Seriously, you need to start a chapter on your website with all the accolades you have enjoyed.

Thank you for your kind words! I am sorry about the disappointments.
First I want to say, I was really excited to take part in this contest and specifically designed 1 image for that contest. After hours of work and uploading I read the description again and more carefully and saw Steve's comment about what exactly the contest should be. From that time on my hopes went down, because other images were more fitting for the theme. I designed another image which was just not as good as the first one, but was better fitting for the theme. The last emperor image was I think the third or forth image I submitted. I did not had much hope for it, becuase of the topic, but on the other hand you do not know how strict they will be on the theme. The idea of the image given by sharply_done, I thought was exellent. So I did upload it and it won me unexpectedly  a nice price.
Reflecting back on what the judges said I saw that they were not focused so much on images that sell, but what they considered to be art (some might not agree). Well I do not say my images is the best artistic, but just hearing their explaination for both images it sounded like explanations in the art classes I took. But originally I did not intend to make an artistic image, but one that sells.
Thank you for your nice and ecouraging words pixart.
Yes I have enjoyed many sales with this one but only 8 on StockXpert so far.

While I can relate to the disappointments of some photographers, which I am really sorry about, I do not think StockXpert is to blame, if I might say this. Steve tried his best to make it fair. There just seemed to be miscommunication between Steve and the judges about the topic.
I can relate to this, because I saw the contest page for the first time, did not read it carefully enough and spend hours of work, only to discover later I was slightly of topic.
However I had great competition and people were submitting excellent images. All the best to everyone.