2009 Photo Contest Winners!

The results are in! But first, a HUGE thank-you to everyone who participated in this year’s Mochimochi Photo Contest, by entering your incredibly cute and fun photos, by cheering on your favorites in the semifinals round, and by casting ballots in the finals round. The photo contest is one of our favorite things that we do in Mochimochi Land, and we are thrilled to make it a tradition that many people take part in every year.

This was our first year to have a sponsor: Knit Picks, an online supplier of great yarn! (I recommend the Wool of the Andes for knitting toys.) Thank you very much to them for supplying generous prizes to the winners.

Also new this year is a “Judges’ Choice” award to recognize a favorite photo of mine and John’s that didn’t make it into the top three in the voting. We are happy to announce that this award goes to Chicken Gang Leader by teekayknits!

You get a $10 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop for your photo. Great job!

And now for the top three winners of the 2009 Mochimochi Photo Contest! More than 850 of you cast ballots in our final round of voting. We had a clear winner, but it was a close race until the very end with the rest of the photos.

In third place is Breakfast Surprise by lapelote.

Yaay! For winning third place, you will receive a $10 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop and a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks.

In second place is Bold and Beautiful by kathrynivy.com.

Super-awesome! For winning second place, you will receive these silly toys from Japan…

…plus a $15 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop and a $10 gift certificate to Knit Picks.

And finally, the first place winner of the 2009 Mochimochi Photo Contest is Batty Bats by DutchMoeder!

Congratulations!! You get the grand prize of this fun assortment of goodies from Japan…

… plus a $25 gift certificate to the Mochimochi Shop, plus a $50 gift certificate to Knit Picks.

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the contest this year! It’s not too early to enter your photos for next year’s contest—simply upload them to the Mochimochi Friends group on Flickr, and you will be automatically in the running for our 2010 contest.