Empire State Building Selects Winning Photos Of Annual 'My Empire State Building' Digital Photo Contest

Today, the Empire State Building (ESB) announced the Grand Prize Winner of its second annual digital photo contest, "My Empire State Building," honoring images submitted by photography enthusiasts around the nation.

The Grand Prize Winner, Kirit Prajapati of Weehawken, New Jersey will receive $5,000 and his photo will be featured as ESB's Facebook profile photo beginning today through to December 31, 2013.

The contest began on May 23, 2013, and invited amateur and professional photographers alike to submit photos of the World's Most Famous Office Building to the Empire State Building's Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/EmpireStateBuilding). Empire State Building page fans voted on their favorite images, and 14 weekly winning photos were selected. After the submission period concluded, ESB determined 43 runners-up photos, including the weekly winners, and one Grand Prize-winning photo.

On a weekly basis throughout 2014, the other 43 Finalists will also receive honors by having their photos highlighted to the global online community as the building's Facebook profile picture. Additionally, all of the Grand Prize and Finalist photos will be showcased in an exhibit in the landmark's highly-trafficked Fifth Avenue Gallery lobby windows in October, 2013, and possibly in ESB marketing collateral.

"Following the success of last year's inaugural 'My Empire State Building' digital photo contest, we are thrilled to have received hundreds more astounding photo submissions for the contest's second year," said Anthony E. Malkin of the Empire State Building. "Kirit Prajapati's Grand-Prize Winning photo truly captures the spirit and grandeur of the World's Most Famous Office Building, echoing the sentiment of our visitors from around the world."

The 43 Runners-Up include (in alphabetical order):

• Amina Akhmatova (Corona, NY)
• Crystal Amaya (Vancouver, WA)
• Vikram Arora (Jersey City, NY)
• Rita Asuncion (Chino, CA)
• Michael Baker (Orange, CT)
• Christian Bobadilla (Bridgewater, NJ)
• Paula Carrere (Mandeville, LA)
• Meredith Caruso (Union Beach, NJ)
• Fallon Chan Ho (Bellerose, NY)
• Melissa Chemick (Great Neck, NY)
• Tina Demarco (Pompano Beach, FL)
• Jorge Diaz (Astoria, NY)
• Candice DSouza (New York, NY)
• Raymond Filoteo (Jamaica, NY)
• Sean Fitzthum (Brooklyn, NY)
• Wolfgang Gabler (New York, NY)
• Carlos Garza (Pflugerville, TX)
• Danna Guray (Anaheim, CA)
• Sean Howard (New York , NY)
• Aleks Ivic (Brooklyn, NY)
• ChristAl Jones (Opelousas, LA)
• Kevin Koepke (Clifton, NJ)
• Caitlin Latini (Huntington, NY)
• Kevin Lau (Edmond, OK)
• Chris Layton (Carmel, NY)
• Greg Lepera (St. Augustine, FL)
• Kevin Lu (Fort Lee, NJ)
• Elizabeth McPhetridge (Jamaica, NY)
• Kelly Millea (Brooklyn, NY)
• Mackenzie Nevill (Los Angeles, CA)
• Daniel Osorio (Astoria, NY)
• Elizabeth Patton (Longview, TX)
• Andriy Prokopenko (Brooklyn, NY)
• Sandra Sayago (Houston, TX)
• Ian Sbalcio (Bethesda, MD)
• Tina Siwinski (Jamestown, NY)
• Ron Tarablous (New York, NY)
• Dorian Vazquez (Brownsville, TX)
• Melisa Venegas (New York, NY)
• Marie Viola (Hobe Sound, FL)
• David Wald (Maplewood, NJ)
• Vickie Willis (Decatur, GA)
• Karen Wolaver (Allen, TX)