Yes, ladies and gentlemen, after working tirelessly day and night, our panel of completely arbitrary judges has spoken! Choosing these winners was no easy task. Or so they told me as, sequestered in their ivory tower, they demanded ever more champagne, beer, and reference books. First: some of you are very smart and observant. Second: even more of you are very funny. So without drawing the suspense out and making you crazier than you already are, here are the winning entries and the runners-up. Over the next couple of days I'll also be posting some If-Only-They-Were-Honorable Mentions. Winners get an ARC of ON THE LINE and an I Heart NY tee shirt, so winners: send your mailing addresses immediately to

ONTHELINEarc@aol.com

And check it out: Runners-up will also get tee shirts (we're out of ARC's, more's the pity) So send your mailing addresses, too. But here's the secret of the tee shirts: you -- and winners, this applies to you, too -- only get yours after your review appears on Amazon.com. And if it's a bad review, boy will you get yours. No, seriously, the judges, who adore you all, have authorized me to make this once-in-a-lifetime offer: ANYONE who posts a review on Amazon.com in October will get a cheesy I Heart NY tee shirt, signed by me. (Winners, because you're getting ARC's, your promise to post your reviews by Oct. 3 still stands.) The winners and runners-up will get tee shirts that, in my ineffable handwriting, announce their rank. (Wear the shirts long enough, they'll announce their own rank.) The rest of you, no rank, just shirts.

Everybody got it?

And now, here come the winners!

Photo #1


Winner: Marjorie Tucker, for: "This photograph is of my great grandmother's home in Brooklyn (and Manhattan and the Bronx depending on what time it was) back in 1932. When she used to tell us stories about living in a box car, we thought that she meant an apartment in the city with little rooms all in a row. But she patiently explained to us that things were so bad after the Crash that she actually lived on train car #6749 until she married Gramps and moved into a shoebox. She said the sleeping there wasn't bad, but shaving her legs was a horror. We only believed her after she produced this photograph as proof. I miss Grammie. The end."

Runner-up: ed king, for: "Pictures of NY . . . . . finally a subject I'm an expert on ! Luckily we have one of these in Coos Bay . So, I'll just order a 12" super sub on that soft sweet french bread with Havarti cheese, rare roast beef , mayo, Napa Valley Hot and Sweet mustard , lettuce , tomato , roasted red sweet pepper , and onion and icy chardoney to drink [ oops no wine in Oregon Subway ] . If I don't win please send sandwich .*"

*punctuation, all ed's

Truth, and a lot of you came close but only one nailed it: it's the subway, specifically the downtown 4 train, at Union Square.


Photo #2


Winner: Stephen D. Rogers, for: "These were the decision makers at the last editorial meeting where my book proposal was discussed."

Runner-up: "nenjoki", for: "Anger Management, Washington Square Park."

Truth: lots of you guessed Chinese New Year, but no. It's a group of visiting Buddhist monks from Bhutan performing a Cham dance at Columbus Circle (south end of Central Park).


Photo #3


Winner: Bill Reinka, for: "Taken at NYC Chinatown miniature golf course."

Runner-up: Warren Liebold, aka WL, and Michael Snyder, for hitting it right on the nose:

WL: "NY Botanical Gardens -- Bunch of plants and a miniature of the Little Red Lighthouse below the GWB." (Umm -- "bunch of plants?")

Michael Snyder: "Clearly, it's the Little Red Lighthouse (I knew it even before I read the teeny tiny sign in front of it). This time, though, the lighthouse itself is teeny tiny, in its incarnation at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. Makes the original "Little" one under the George Washington Bridge look positively humongous."

(Though neither you guys, nor anyone else, mentioned the Christmas Train Show and the fact that this Little Red Lighthouse, like all the buildings in the show, is made completely of plants. Probably, a bunch of plants.)


Photo #4

Winner: A tie between WL and Jack Getze.

WL: "The last thing you see as you realize the cement overshoes have hardened and they're lifting you up by your arms, Lenny on the left and Bugsy on the right."

Jack Getze: "This is the dock at Devil's Island where they dropped me after my gluten-free tantrum."

WL, because you're almost family, you're outta luck, sorry dude. So Jack, it's you, the judges have spoken.


Runner-up: Another tie: David Hansard and Marjorie Tucker.

David Hansard: "Jetway/passenger ramp installed in Hudson to make deplaning easier for future mid-river landings."

Marjorie Tucker: "Advice to a Pier Visitor Who Doesn't Want to be Caught Swimming:

There once was a Pier called the Chelsea,
Where yuppies and guppies did dwell, see?
But it wouldn't make sense,
to jump over the fence,
Cause the cops would just call up and tell me.

The end."

Truth: the bow of the Staten Island Ferry on an unbelievably beautiful day. Heading south, by the way.

I'll be posting more answers over the next couple days, and as I said, anyone who posts a review on Amazon.com (and barnesandnoble.com and anywhere else you want to) anytime in October gets a tee shirt.

You guys are the greatest!