People's Choice Award announced

A patriotic pooch took the title as the favorite photo in the voting for the People's Choice Award in Foto Fest 2003.

Linda Kremer's photograph of the family pet, Radar, shows the golden retriever puppy curled in a basket lined with Americana material.

The image was selected as the People's Choice winner by a majority of votes.

Foto Fest is an annual photography contest sponsored by the Southeast Missourian and Westfield Shoppingtown West Park. It is open to amateur photographers in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Ballot judges said Kremer's photograph was the clear winner among the hundreds of entries on display at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park.

The contest is always a lot of fun and people enjoy seeing the array of photographs entered, said Joyce Hunter, contest coordinator.

More than 1,000 photos were entered during the six-week contest. Each week four semifinalists were chosen by a panel of judges. Later, a grand prize winner was selected from the group of 24 semifinalists.

All the semifinalists and grand prize winners in this year's contest are online at www.semissourian.com. A complete collection of the photographs entered in the contest are on display through Monday at the mall.