Ithaca, N.Y. — The local National Weather Service station — based out of Binghamton but covering Ithaca, the Finger Lakes and much of Central New York — just concluded its “photo of the year” contest.

Ithaca Is Bluegrass Jan. 23-25

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The winner? The following image, of a sunset at Delta Lake State Park, from Blaine Stauffer. (All photos below are reproduced with the permission of the NWS.)

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The weather service had a bracket-style tournament with different rounds to determine the winner of the photo contest. The photos with the most Facebook “likes” advanced to the next round.

The other finalist, which finished in second place, was taken by Earl Lucas, and it shows an Osprey with a fish at Lackawanna State Park in Pennsylvania.

Here it is:

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There were dozens of fantastic entries. The rules for the contest, for purists:

“The photo must be an original and be about the weather, astronomy, or nature. We will -not- use your photo if it is not an original. Please do not post obvious fake photos. Some slight enhancements of your photo is allowed but overly enhanced or composite images will not be accepted

Below the photos and captions come from the NWS.