Cuba Photo Contest 2014 Semifinalists
HAVANA TIMES — It’s time to present the pictures from the 6th HT Cuba Photo Contest that made it to the second round of selection. We received a total of 555 pictures from 72 participants competing in the five categories: Cuba y Night, Achievements, Failures, Housing and Billboards/Posters.
The jury, which is still in session, is comprised of 20 persons living in 11 countries.
During the first round of selection we asked the jurors to pick a maximum of 25 photos in each category.
After tabulation, the cutoff point was at five votes. Thus to make it to the second round, at least five of the jurors had to have picked the given photograph.
Surviving the first cut were: Cuba by Night (31) Achievements (32) Failures (29) Housing (34) and Billboards/Posters (37).
Forty-eight of the 72 participants had at least one photo making it to the second round of the contest.
The following are all of the photos that made it to Round Two. As with the jury, the photos appear without names or captions.
Cuba by Night
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Achievements
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Failures
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Housing
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Billboards/Posters
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Here are some cats in Cuba:
http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-CzPs3/i-2MQHtXp/A
Jen, how many photos of stray dogs did you send in for the Failures category?
Stray dogs are a huge problem in Cuba and it is not right to ignore the fact that there is a problem. And the way they are treated is horrific and very off putting to tourists. Starys shoudl be included in the Falur catigory if u ask me.
Truely HeartBreaking! I cant even imagine what these animals are feeling!
take a look at the contest categories. They were not conducive to animal photos. In previous years the contest had animal categories and many animal photos. The purpose of the contest is not to push an agenda about strays.
I believe Cuba offers more opportunity for unique image composition per square meter than any other land mass in the hemisphere. The raw texture of a learned and yearning population is evident in these photographer’s view-finders. Snap on. . . stray dogs and all.
stray dogs would fit in the failure category as it is a failure to not look out and help them ..
Karin, stray animals are also my concern but they are not the only issue in Cuba and the categories this time did not specifically mention animals at all.
Why is there no pictures of stray animals ? is it only people with cold hearts between this contest ?
I am surprised and somewhat saddened that no photos of the strays made the cut….there are some great pictures here though
No regards whatsoever for animals is NOT a good sign – The Cuban Government has an old fashioned, inhumane way of dealing with homeless animals—they poison them. Work crews in trucks prowl the city in search of vagabond, sick, and injured animals. They are taken to a killing center miles east of the city where they are kept without food for a few days to check for rabies. As soon as the rabies quarantine period has lapsed, the hungry animals are finally given a meal—lamentably, their last one. The food is laced with strychnine, and there begins a slow, painful decline and death for thousands of dogs and cats every year. On judgement day we are judged by the way we treat those who need help
This is so sad, people need to open their eyes.
That is so sad. I wish they had more education about helping stray animals. I wonder how many tourists don’t ever go back to Cuba after watching animals left to die. It breaks my heart.
They do not realize there are many who will not go because to put it simply there is no information available to them to help a stray that they may encounter. It would cost nothing for resorts to have information available telling what happens to strays, a list of names of veternarians, and a list of families who would foster there. Many would sponsor a dog there which would help the family financially, help the dog, help the vet, and the guest would go home happy and perhaps come back to visit their sponsored dog.
In other years there have been numerous photos of animals because the categories lent themselves to it. Maybe next year will be another.
Very nice photos! Why were no photos of the strays included?
How sad there is not one photo of an animal among all of them. It’s unconscionable that animals mean absolutely nothing to many people in Cuba, particularly authorities. .