This final Challenge of the year was full of surprises, from the initial shock of the theme announcement to the judging round. The results of the self-judging were so interesting to me that I am going to post my thoughts in a longer separate thread, where we can have a more extensive side conversation about the judging process. I’ll also post the commentary that I received from the player-judges at that time as well. But right now, let’s keep it short and sweet and uncluttered! And extend our congratulations to...

The winner of UWOL #6…

“Isopod” by Markus Nord

Congratulations! And I might mention that it is our first winning UW entry. Excellent work, Markus!

Our first runner-up…

“Art of the Night” by Per Johan

Good work, Per, bringing your video magic into the city!

And our second runner-up…

“Get to Bed!” by Cat Russell

Nice job on a sweet and lovely film.

Congrats to all of the players for a most uniquely interesting Challenge round and for a great close to an excellent first year.

Congrats Markus, Per and Cat.

All excellent films!

A very tough theme and you guys pulled it off.

Looking forward to seeing your work in 2008!

Yes! Congrats.
That was tough all around, and so many good films to look at. Great job to the winners!

Congrats to you Markus, Per & Cat!

It certainly was a tough theme this one and you all came up with exceptional entries.

Well done to you and all the other participants for managing to rise to the challenge set by our crazy Meryem. Let's hope she is more gentle with us going forward.

Those were great entries. Markus: I don't know if I can ever eat shrimp again! I didn't know they were transparent. Actually that was a beautiful shot. Yours is a win well deserved.

Per Johan: We are so used to seeing beauty in your work no one should be surprised.

Cat: You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Keeping all those poor critters awake so late and depriving them of much needed sleep just so you can achieve such an original, entertaining, imaginative and funny response to the challenge of video in the night!

You did good. Real good. Congrats on the recognition (Uh, and the achievement too) to all 3 of you.

Congratualtions & well done to you Markus, Per Johan & Cat, i really enjoyed your films.
Well done too, to all other entrants. This was a really difficult theme, so to have so many really high quality videos really shows how the whole team is going from strength to strength!

I have really enjoyed this round, my first & definately not my last.

See you all in February.

Bryce

Markus, Per and Catherine, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

All of you made very good films!!

First I need to express my feelings… I’m sorry Bruce! (I know it’s another thread but I needed to say that…)


WOW… This was a fun thing to read in the morning… I don’t know what to say.
Thank you all for voting on my film, this is what I wish for in every contest, which is what pulls my forward. This challenge means a lot to me, this is the best spot to try new ideas and concepts and I’m glad that my beloved Baltic Sea got some recognition, cause that is a sea with an ecosystem that is on it’s edge of collapse. I dedicate every minute I can to show it’s beauty and I hope that my films one day can make a difference in people’s minds.

Per Johan and Cat, congratulation to achieve really good films in a tough challenge.


Tack så mycket!
Markus

I'm very humble that I got votes from you, my uwol-friends on this entry! As I had said before this was a real tough one!!!

I will say a BIG congrats to both of you: Marcus and Cat, you was on my winner list!

Thanks again to everyone who has participated in the challenge this year, I think you're all winners. This community has been a second home for me and I have learned a lot from you guys over the last year. I can't wait for February and UWOL-Challenge '08 will start!

Markus big congrats on this one fella. You deserved it fella, it was a good solid piece of film making with a nice helping of wow thrown in for good measure. I'm glad to see an underwater piece win the UWOL too, begining to think we should change it to OLOL and hey it just doesn't have the same ring huh!

Congrats to Per and Cat too.....nice one guys.

Congratulations Markus. Per Johan and Cat. Well done all!

Gordon Hoffman

Congratulation to you Markus, you deserved to win this round.

Also to Per and Catherine, very well done to both of you.

Beste helsing :)
Geir Inge

Congratulations to the winner and to everybody. That was a tough one.
Hope to see you all next year!

Congrets to the winner and all how challenge.
It was a great round.


Vidar Vedaa.

_______________

In spite of the extra challenges of this challenge, I was impressed by the quality of all the films. And congratulations, Markus, Per and Catherine!

Ruth

Congratulations to all ! It was really interesting to see the variety of entries interpreting the "Night" theme. All a lot of fun !

Hi everyone:

Congratulations to Marcus and Per on exceptional film-making. Marcus, your comment inspires me that it means so much to you to show how beautiful the Baltic Sea is with all of its creatures in the way you have come to know and love it. I think that is the inspiration behind UWOL ... to share with the world the globe's natural beauty that we have each come to know and love in our own unique way.

And thank you for the nod for my entry. I'm a bit stunned but honored none the less. I think Meryem is raising up a family of highly talented and esteemed film-makers who collectively we can do outstanding things, no?

Excellent work to all and looking forward to a fresh batch of challenges next year.

Cat

P.S. Hey Mat ... Like you said, OLOL just doesn't have the same ring to it but perhaps O - LOL helps a bit, as in Oh! Laughing Out Loud... These films are so good!

...our crazy Meryem....

hey! i say, hey now, you're the guy sitting on the roof waiting for possums! who you callin' crazy??

glad you all have found a way to join me in my hare-brained schemes!

i promise to go easy on you next round.

i can hear the complaining already: "this is just way too easy! we need a challenge, damn you. i'm going to go shoot some NIGHT footage of this...."

see how you people are??

just to stay on topic--i will be posting a commentary and reflecting on the judge's thread some time tonight--i want to be able to put some thought behind it but didn't want to keep everyone in suspense.

Markus, Per and Cat. Congradulations. All three were excellant videos that deserved to win. Actually, congradulations to everyone that submitted an entry. As you all know, this was a very interesting and tough challenge. Congradulations to all. Bob

I had Markus in my #1 spot so I am glad to see that the majority agreed with that assessment. There were many great clips this round, as usual, but sometimes one just sticks out.

Congrats Markus!!!! Very nice feature and a very hard theme to tackle for many of us. Way to end the year!!!

Congratulations!!!

Markus, great job

Per, some of the best compositions I have ever seen.

Cat, a wonderfully unique video.

Congratulations everyone who worked it through and the winner of course. Hope to challenge you next time :)

Hi Burak:

Wow! Do we have another sign on to the UWOL family? How exciting! Please join us! I can't wait to see what beautiful filming comes from Turkey. We might have two others joining you next year, Anne-Kari from Norway and Marj from South Africa. Splendid! The UWOL family is as international is it can be I think!

Hope to hear from you in 2008!

Sincerely,

Cat

Hope to challenge you next time :)
A big welcome to our new uwol family member!
It's nice to have you with us, Burak.

Welcome Burak!

I love that we have such an incredible international community here.

We truly are a global challenge!