Well, here are the results!

At first I was overwhelmed by the idea of choosing one winner from among so many intriguing photos. As I went through the entries several times, a number began to stand out—those that were fine photographs as well as interesting ideas. The cameras were not of professional quality, so the photographers were either very skilled or very lucky!

Eventually I compiled a group of about ten top photos. That was narrowed down to five, and then three. I awarded first place to "Waterproof Words" because it had a simplicity and a magical quality that captured the wonder of reading.

Making the decision was hard—but fun. I hope the entrants had as good a time taking those pictures as I did reviewing them.

"Juneau tourists" is very funny, and very nicely photographed to accentuate the scale.

What is FLOTSAM? Those fish seem to be in on a secret.
David answers. (mp3 file/2m54s)
"In a bigger sense the idea that I was playing with was some kind of secret, some kind of bond that stretched between kids through time and across distance. . . ." The rest of the audio interviews can be found in the archives.

Sometimes entire ships end up as flotsam, especially ones from the old days of wooden sailing ships. In a bad storm, the crew might go down and stay under the sea for hundreds of years. Here's a story appropriate for Pirate Day... or, Week: "For almost 290 years, the remains of a young pirate—a fibula, a silk stocking and a shoe—remained unidentified. Anthropologists have now determined that the remains belong to John King, a 10 or 11-year-old boy believed to have been a pirate. The remains were found on the wreck of the Whydah, a pirate ship which came to a watery end off the coast of Cape Cod in the 18th century." Listen to the whole story on National Public Radio's website