The winners of the photocontest The Speleo Photo of the Year 2011

This year 26 photographers from Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Spain, France, Austria, Croatia, Bulgaria, Marocco and USA took part in the photo contest The Speleo Photo of the Year 2011. The 198 accepted photos were evaluated by the jury and the visitors of the internet album. The members of the jury:

1. Jordi Borras, Spain, the president of the caving club of Barcelona Espeleoclub De Gracia
2. Stanislav Kotarba, Poland, an experienced caver and cave photographer
3. Yuriy Kasyan, Ukraine, the famous and experienced Ukrainian caver
   
4. Antanas Sadeckas, Lithuania, the oldest Lithuanian caver
   
5. Simonas Švitra, Lithuania, the photojournalist of the daily newspaper "Vilniaus diena"

After adding the votes of the jury and the Internet voting the winners are:

1^st place (the photo gathered 126 points out of 180 possible):


The author of the photo: Roberto F. Garcia, Spain. He is also the winner of the last year's contest.

2^nd place (87 points):


The author of the photo: Viktor, Ukraine. 

3^rd place (83 points):


The author of the photo: Kiril Bagriy, Russia (he took the 1st place in 2009 and the 2nd place in 2010).

This year four participants (out of 26) were from Lithuania. Together they submitted 33 photos. Rather unexpectedly the only photo submitted by Raimondas Daniūnas gathered 72 points and took the 7th place. The name of the photo is "The Joy of Discovery".

PRIZES:

The third place winner received a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a flashlight Petzl Tikka Plus.

The second place winner received  a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the e-shop "Kuprine.lt" - a transport bag Aventure Verticale 35 L.

The first place winner received  a special speleo.lt brand T-shirt and a prize established by the caving club Aenigma - a flashlight Petzl Tikka XP.

The sponsors of the contest: