The "Disappointment is My Middle Name" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just got my November issue of "Caribbean Travel and Life" magazine. The one I have been waiting for. This is the issue that will tell me if I have won a vacation to one of many islands in the Caribbean. Last July I entered their photo contest for the third time. Never won any big prizes, but did have a few of my photos featured on their web site. They stopped featuring photos when the contest got too large, and only placed the winning photos in the magazine. They award 1st, 2nd,and 3rd places in the categories of Beach, Scenic, People, Nature, and Anything Goes. 15 winners plus the Grand Prize winner which gets a week long vacation at The Sands on Grace Bay, Turks and Caicos. As soon as I got in the house I started through the magazine until I found the article on the contest called "snap decisions". OK, the Grand Prize winner had a really neat photo from Cupecoy Beach in St. Martin. I agreed with the choice. Next page had a People photo of a boy jumping off a waterfall in the Dominican Republic. Nah,wasn't impressed. 1st place beach photo was from Devil's Bay, BVI. I have better photos hanging on my wall then that one. I scan the 10 pages of the article and not a single mention of a photo by LDub. I had a neat photo of Richard from Barbados that I entered. Even emailed him and asked if he would send a letter saying it was OK to enter the photo. I had a photo taken on a beach in Barbados of a young boy relaxing while looking at the water. Another in Barbados of the setting sun that was awesome. One from Shoal Bay Beach in Anguilla which is the #1 beach in the world.One from BooBoo Jams in St.Martin. And then there was Carol's all-time favorite of the green umbrella taken on Happy Bay in St. Martin. And on and on it goes. And I paid $24 to enter. Costs $3 to enter each photo. You have to enter online and you must title the photo, decide the category, and pay your money at the end of the entry. Now, I saw some great shots on those 10 pages, but at least one of mine could have been judged with at least a 3rd place. I know, the judges didn't think so. But, what do they know. They made over $6,500 from the entries, since they had over 2,200 of them. Prizes were donated. Oh well, maybe next year. I need to find out who will be the judges next year and write them a nice letter before I enter next year. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photo shown are some the entries I had that didn't receive any mention.