Before I get to the winners, I have to say this was a real painful thing to judge. I had five other judges assist, and while generally some of the selections were similar for at least one image for all judges, the rest were mixed, which goes to show just how good the entries are that there were no clear and outright winners from five independent judges.

So allow me a moment to thank all the judges for their assistance, which did help me greatly.

And finally I would like to thank all those who participated once again. This was successful beyond my hopes for a first round, and I definitely want to run it again in the very near future, better and bigger (if possible). You are indeed all winners, and certainly rose to the challenge magnificently.

To the judging process. I asked my five judges to pick their top 5 images generally based on if the image had some kind of powerful emotion, action, or both at the very least. Some took it a couple steps further by how well the image was put together, the focus, and so on. They submitted their top five choices to me, and then I had to narrow it down further. I tried to go by a general consensus if I could, but alas...that was not in the cards. DOH! No easy break for me on that one lol.

I determined the final top three by how well they felt "unleashed" to me, if the images spoke to me somehow. And even then I had a hell of a time narrowing it down. Hence why it took me a week to finally make a decision.

Pretty much all agreed that they could have picked 10 images easily, but in the end there can only be 3 official winners.

However, there were three that deserve an honorable mention each, and it was a very difficult choice to not place them in the top three. I really wish I had three more prizes to give, for honestly I think they deserve it.

Honorable mentions are the following:
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Now for the winners.

In 3rd place:
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In 2nd place:
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And the grand prize winner is......















wait for it










(yea...that was evil )







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Congratulations to the winners! I'd say a round of applause, but that would just be the sound of a bunch of keyboards clacking, and who wants that?

Once again, thank you all for participating and setting one hell of a standard across the board. From amateur artist to professional, those looking for a prize to just having fun...you set the bar for future contests. If I can I will line up the next round for a couple months...if at all possible of course. And again, I must thank ^misskittyoooo for sponsoring and putting the word out for DeviantART: Unleashed! and believing in the contest enough to go to the admins for some snazzy prizes. And I thank =mechangel2002 for directing me there in the first place. Without her poking me to go talk to Misskittyoooo, this probably wouldn't have happened yet lol.

I'll get in touch with her and find out how you folks can get your prizes and shall let you know asap.

Congrats to everyone! Rest up...round two will come soon.

I promise you this.

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