'PALS FOREVER' PICTURE CAPTURES GRAND PRIZE IN FOTO FEST COMPETITION

Carla Ford's photograph of two children walking together down a gravel road captured grand prize in the 2001 Foto Fest contest.

Judges said it was a nostalgic look that captured two "pals forever."

Ford said the photo of her two granddaughters, Arielle Rowland, 6, and her sister Kristen, 4, was taken in an alley behind her home. "They were just walking down the road," she said.

Ford likes to photograph using black-and-white film because it makes a stronger picture. "And I go for the emotion," she said.

While the girls look like they are the best of friends, they've been known to "fight like cats and dogs," Ford said.

Ford's photo was among 24 semifinalists chosen in earlier weeks of the competition.

Five finalists were chosen along with Ford's winning picture. Other winners were Marty Riley, Anthony Riley, John Bruenderman, Deneke Murphy and Blake Fisher, all of Cape Girardeau.

The winning pictures are printed on page 20A of today's Southeast Missourian.

Photographs also can be seen at the Web site www. semissourian.com or on display at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park.

Foto Fest is an amateur photography contest open to residents of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. More than 1,200 photographs were entered during the six-week competition.

The contest is sponsored by Westfield Shoppingtown and the Southeast Missourian. Additional sponsors are Schnucks, Albertson's, Mac's Smokehouse, Cape Girardeau Regional Air-port and St. Francis Medical Center.

The contest is always exciting because people continue to enter pictures, said Joyce Hunter, marketing director at Westfield Shoppingtown West Park.

Public may vote

The next step in the contest is to invite the public into the judging process.

Each photograph entered in the contest is still eligible for one last prize: the People's Choice Award. Ballots will be available at the display in the Pasta House court. Entries are limited to one vote per person.

"We know what the judges have said; now we want to know what the people say" are the best photographs, Hunter said.

Visitors to the photo display can vote on their favorite picture and see all the semifinalist winners and entries.

"It really looks like an exhibition hall," Hunter said.

There are images of landscapes, children playing, color and black-and-white photographs.

"There's so much color down there it really draws people to stop and take a minute to look," she said.