Please forgive my ignorance, but can someone please explain how best of show is chosen vs best in category?

I'm guessing that best of show would be the photos that received the most votes regardless of category? Best of category would be the one with the most votes in each individual category?

But that would mean first, second and third place in the entire contest, regardless of category, plus 17 that take best of category? So, 20 winners all together?

I'm also wondering if the photos we're seeing and voting on for best of show represent the best in each category?

Exactly.

tx_flower_child said:Exactly.

So the best of show isn't a best in category?

Best of show is the grand poobah. As I understand it, the 1st place winners of each category are eligible for best of show.

Sorry for the confusion. I was agreeing with your questions. They're exactly what I was wondering about.

Bonehead said:Best of show is the grand poobah. As I understand it, the 1st place winners of each category are eligible for best of show.

Okay, so the ones we're seeing in the last round of voting are the category winners, and one of those will become best of show (1st place), another second, and another third, and the remaining 14 will stay best of their respective categories?

That's right.

dave said:That's right.

I had thought that the first round of voting was really hard with so many wonderful photographs. This final round of voting seems even harder. Aarghh! I want to vote for all of them!

Okay, I get it now. I'm sure this was explained somewhere before, but it looks like after initial voting, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners for each category are identified.

The first place winners from each category are up for best of show. After voting on that level, the first, second and third place winners are identified and win prizes. At this point, not only do we get to see the three prize winners, but also the first, second and third place winners in each category!

If we click over to the contest homepage and then click on a category, we can also see the fourth and fifth place photos and how many votes they got, and all the runner up pictures too (i.e., all the other photos submitted to that category) along with any captions.

I wish there could be a little prize for all the second and third place winners in each category, say a little microbadge or something. It would be nice.

Again, it was a wonderful event and I really enjoyed seeing all the pictures everyone submitted. Thanks @dave for this and for all you and all the others do!