I'm pretty stoked, ended up receiving two merit awards for two of my pictures that I entered in the pictorial competition at my photo club. I was initally worried based on some of the scores of the previous pictures, lots of good stuff and not getting the best scores. Then my first picture(truck fire) comes up and the judge really liked it. I think the women's facial expression in the window sealed it and she said 9(highest score). I couldn't believe it.
The one picture I though was going to do well, didn't do so good, but not bad. My last picture(train) I was again super surprise when she gave this a 9 too. I was going to re-take the picture another night with a tripod to shot at a slower speed for more light, but my friend's father told me to enter it anyway. Once she did the final round of judging she gave my two shots merit awards.
No top awards, but I was really happy with my two merit awards considering the competition, and my limited experience.
Here are the two merits:
Remains of Car Fire
Night Stop
btw both shot with my Fuji FinePix S5100

No top awards, but I was really happy with my two merit awards considering the competition, and my limited experience.
Here are the two merits:

Remains of Car Fire

Night Stop
btw both shot with my Fuji FinePix S5100