By Sean P. Ray | Managing Editor

When we said “anything goes,” we meant it. Our latest photo contest was a completely open category, with participants able to send in pictures of just about anything they wanted.

What that ended up being was a lot of landscapes and nature shots, though with a wide variety of where they were taken. We had pictures of the 7th Street Bridge shrouded in fog, a black-and-white photo of Stonehenge, and even a shot of Pittsburgh as seen from an airplane passing overhead.

Yet, in the end, the winning photo chosen by our readers was something more personal and intimate. It wasn’t a sweeping landscape or a wonder of the world. It was a wife and husband out for a walk in the park.

Submitted by Kathy Mazur of Allegheny City Central, “My mom and dad holding hands while walking through West Park” depicts exactly what its title suggests. Mazur’s parents enjoying a stroll through one of the Northside’s scenic parks, the trail stretching out before them and surrounded by the greenery of nature.

Perhaps it’s that greenery that garnered the photo the most votes. As winter gets underway, people miss those trees full of leaves and the warm weather that invites them outside.

The photo is interesting in that Mazur’s parents, despite being the focal point of the shot, are relatively small in frame and photographed from the back. In a way, it almost makes them feel like they could be anyone’s grandparents in the picture, adding a relatability to it.

Whatever the reason, Mazur claimed victory with strong support, taking home 42.9% of the vote. By comparison, the second-place entry had 25% of the vote.

Congratulations Mazur! You took on all challenges from all possible categories and secured the win. You deserve those bragging rights.

Now it’s time to announce our next contest. And it’s going to be a big one because we’re reviving our most popular photo contest to date.

That’s right, it’s The Northside Chronicle’s Cutest Pet Photo Contest: Round 2!

Longtime Chronicle readers may recall the first Cutest Pet Photo Contest ran from April to June 2023 and saw a total of 40 entries and nearly 200 votes. So we have high hopes this second iteration will be just as competitive.

The winner last time was Amy Shreckengost of Deutschtown with her photo of her dog Reggie by the Roberto Clemente mural on Verdetto’s Bar & Restaurant. Will she defend her title? We’re going to allow Shreckengost to enter again, but she must submit a different photo.

Actually, that goes for everyone who entered the first iteration of the contest. Anyone who competed the first time can do so again, but must submit a different photo than before. We want no repeats.

Any and all types of pets can be entered, and more than one pet can be included in a photo, but only one entry may be submitted per person. Send us your cats, dogs, bunnies, fish, lizards and even tarantulas, if you have them. We’ll take them all!

Standard rules from past photo contests apply. Entrants must be Northsiders, former Northsiders or subscribers to The Chronicle. Submissions can be emailed to editor@thenorthsidechronicle.com or sent via messenger to our Instagram account, nschronicle.

Entries should include the photographer’s name, their home neighborhood (or that they’re a subscriber), their pet’s or pets’ name or names, and an optional photo title.

Photos can be altered with photo editing software for aspects such as color, shading or similar values (so you can send in a black-and-white photo, for example), but not for inserting new photo subjects (you can’t take a picture of your dog in the living room and crop him out and put him into a photo at the Grand Canyon). AI-generated images are not eligible for the contest and will be rejected.

Submissions will be accepted until March 19, 2025, with voting beginning the following day. The winning photo(s) will be printed in the April 2025 edition of The Chronicle and on our website, thenorthsidechronicle.com.

So get snapping Northside and send us your most adorable animal pictures!