Mustard at Mumm

By L. PIERCE CARSON
Register Staff Writer

The 14th annual Napa Valley Mustard Festival’s photography contest crowned two dozen winners at its festive Photo Finish at Mumm Napa last Saturday night.

Winning entries in three primary categories — innovative, traditional and digital photography — were selected from 279 entries that will all remain on display at the Silverado Trail winery through May 2.

A trio of Napa Valley residents were among the winners in the innovative category. Tom Scheibal of Calistoga was awarded a third place ribbon for his efforts, while Napans Hilary Brodey and Kathleen Hangen received honorable mention awards. The first place award in this category went to Seaside’s Glenn Fidler, while the second place prize was presented to San Francisco’s Donald C. Ridone. Fidler also received an honorable mention for a second entry, and a fifth honorable mention was awarded to Benson Tongue of Walnut Creek.

Rutherford resident Sally Wood was awarded first prize in the traditional category, with Napa’s Audrey Luippold earning a second place ribbon. Sonoma’s Ryan Daffurn placed third. Honorable mentions in this category went to Stephan Dietrich of Roseville and Beth Farhart of Sonoma.

Neil Silverman, a resident of Santa Rosa, was the blue ribbon winner in the digital photo category. In addition to earning first prize in this group, his work was also the sole prize winner in the classification assigned to photos taken along Silverado Trail.

A half dozen Napa County residents were also winners in the digital category. Napa’s Michelle Martin received a second place award, while third prize went to American Canyon’s Ray Marcus. Marcus also won a pair of honorable mention awards for two other entries in this group. Calistoga’s Fran Campanian and Napa’s Elston Rothermel also received honorable mentions for digital photos, as did Jon Cretarolo of Bainbridge, Wash.

Oakland’s Sharon Kain was the single award winner in the Carneros photo category. Napa resident Bill Reeves was selected by event attendees Saturday night for the People’s Choice Award.

First prize winners each received a check for $1,000, while second place winners were awarded $500. Third place winners were presented with checks for $250. People’s Choice, Carneros and Silverado category winners all received bottles of wine from wineries participating in the Napa Valley Mustard Festival photo contest.

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