PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS!
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our Summer Memories 2013 Photo Contest! We had some amazing entries and we appreciated every single one. It was great to see what our readers were up to this summer! We judged our contest based on two criteria: quality of the image and, of course, a good Norwegian-American story to go along with it. We wish we could print all of the entries, but here are some of our favorites! The rest of the entries can be seen here, here and here.
If you receive our print version of the paper, you read about these winners on last week. With no further ado, here they are for the online world to see!
FIRST PLACE: Hafrsfjord Sunset

Photo: Helene Sobol
During my visit to my family in Stavanger, I caught the sun setting on Hafrsfjord, the fjord where Harald Hårfagre (Harold Fairhair) won a battle and united Norway at the end of the 10th century. It was a magical evening which brought back memories of the long and wonderful summer days of my youth swimming and boating on this beautiful fjord.
SECOND PLACE: Zen

Photo: Mark Treleaven-Jones
My son, Sean, sat on the quay at Lysebotn contemplating the meaning of life, the universe and everything! We had spent the previous days kayaking here from Stavanger. Picture taken on 29th June 2013.
THIRD PLACE: Bruk Stemmen Din!

Photo: Erica “Ann” Parsons
This photo was taken at Skogfjorden, Concordia’s Norwegian Language Village. Every year hundreds of villagers, ages 6-18, travel to this magical place in the north woods of Minnesota and experience a summer of all things norsk! This year’s theme at Skogfjorden was Kvinnestemmerett (women’s vote), honoring the 100 year anniversary of Norway recognizing womens’ right to vote. The picture features our international day T-shirt, “Skal du stemme med stemmen din for å skape stemning” (Will you decide with your vote to create the atmosphere) and our celebration of Edvard Munch and “The Scream”. Submitted by Ross “Odin” Dybvig.