by Vina Frederick With hundreds of entries and a judging process that took hours, the verdict is now in for the categories of General Photography and Campus Photography in the MCU Literary Awards, which are slated for presentation on December 14, 2011 at the Taoyuan Campus. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, judges engaged in a grueling process to determine the winners of each category. The judging was not easy because there were hundreds of quality entries which had to be narrowed down to just a handful. Only the most ‘stand-out’ photos had a chance of being selected as winners. As a result of the quality of entries this year, the judges have also selected 26 photos—14 campus photography and 12 general photography —in order to give those students an opportunity to win prizes and for their work to be recognized. These 26 photos will be uploaded to Facebook and the photos with the most “likes” will receive prizes. Students can vote by visiting www.facebook.com/mcu.arts. Voting ends on November 30. The winner will be awarded a FUJI Instax mini camera. In the category of Campus Photography, there were 1544 entries. For this category, photos had to be taken with a mobile device, with a focus on campus life and how it is seen through the eyes of students and captured in their photos. There is no ranking for this category but the five most excellent photos will each receive a prize of 2,000 NTD (6 maximum), and students who receive Honorable Mention will receive 1,000 NTD each (10 maximum). Chuang Chai-chi, a judge for the Campus Photography section, said that the judges narrowed the campus photos to 100 but when they made further cuts to 20 works, it became more difficult to select the top photos because the entries were all good. “We wanted to see the diversity in the pictures and compared those that were similar in nature,” she said. “That was very challenging. We voted on every one and then went through a process of elimination based on those that got the most votes.” As for the General Photography category, which was judged by a separate set of five judges, the competition was even tougher as 1154 photos were up for review. The judges debated back and forth as to which photos they thought really made a statement and captured the true essence of what the shot was trying to deliver to the viewer. All winners are expected to attend the December 14 award ceremony in S104 on Taoyuan Campus from 13:30 to 17:00. This ceremony will be spiced up with a series of performances—dance, poetry and music. President Chuan Lee will address the gathering and present all the judges with certificates of appreciation.