The winners of the photocontest The Speleo Photo of the Year 2009

The photo contest The Speleo Photo of the Year 2009 is over. 22 photographers from Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine and Macedonia took part in it. The 168 accepted photos were evaluated by the jury and the visitors of the internet album. The members of the jury:

1. Aleksandr Yefremov, the president of the Moscow caving club Sokolniki-RUDN, Russia
2. Yuriy Kasyan, the vice-president of the Ukrainian speleological association, Ukraine
3. Stanislav Kotarba, the experienced caver and photographer, Poland
4. Saulius Kirvela, the member of the union of Lithuanian photo artists, the specialist on the underwater photography, Lithuania
5. Kiril Čachovskij, the photographer of the portal Delfi.lt, Lithuania

After adding the votes of the jury and the Internet voting the winners are:

1^st place (the photo gathered 141 points out of 180 possible):

The author of the photo: Kiril Bagriy, Russia.

2^nd place (96 points):

The author of the photo: Artūras Artiušenka, Lithuania.

3^rd place (91 point):

The author of the photo: Tatyana Kovaliova.

Congratulations to the winners! Soon we will communicate with them regarding the sending of the prizes. Also the prizes of encouragement – the subscriptions of the contest's sponsor the magazine Foto – will be presented to the Lithuanian photographers Tomas Rekašius and Violeta Bladžiūnaitė.

The sponsors of the contest: