Well, I think it is safe to say that as far as Jeff and I are concerned the 2008 Yule, Christmas and Assorted Other Holiday Photo and Yodeling Contest has been insanely successful. With the addition of the latest photo gallery at flicker, there is a total of 388 entries and thirty prize giving brewers, authors and others in the beer trade. Nutty. Here are the three galleries of photos for you to check out:

• gallery one - the first wave of 118 photos.
• gallery two - the challenging second album of 119 photos.
• gallery three - 151 all new all hit entries!!!

Time moves on and the contest is drawing to a close. Breaking Newsflash: I will be away from the computer for the best part of the balance of the contest, taking part in some early Yule festivities at the other end of the province so I will not be updating the entries until after the close of the contest next Sunday at 4:00 pm eastern time zone, North America. But please do continue to pour in more photos by emailing your photos of anything related to beer (not to mention more pledges of prizes) to both me at beerblog@gmail.com and also Jeff at stonchblog@gmail.com. We'd like that. We really would.

I would also like to thank all each and every one of our prize sponsors. I am adding the prize offerings to the list below to give you an idea of how good they have all been - for you and for beer-tography. I would particularly like to thank Daniel Bradford of All About Beer magazine who not only has pledged some great prizes but has offered to run the winning photo in our magazine with a little blurb about the contest. Fantastic stuff. Here are all the prize givers to date:

• Beer-Ritz, Britain's bestest online beer retailer which is giving an international selection of a dozen harder-to-find dark ales, stouts and porters to a UK based winner;
• All About Beer magazine...which has offered five subscriptions as well as other goodies;
• BrewDog Beer of Scotland (the greatest Scots rock stars since the BCRs) two mixed cases of their singular concoctions for UK winners (dontcha want to live in the UK now?) as well as a signed t-shirt.
• Flying Dog Brewery of Maryland if shouting out with the gift of a Barrel-aged Gonzo, Humphrey the Humper dog, Gonzo Poster and Gonzo T-shirt. Jeff and I are not entirely clear on what that means but we also know that is because we may not be cool enough to understand...ok, I'm not;
• Beau's All-Natural Brewing of easternest Ontario is giving one of you a hat and t-shirt which will have been specially selected by Steve, the man who put me to work as a brewery roadie;
• Shipyard Brewing of Portland, Maine steps right up and offers three separate prizes of a Shipyard travel coffee mug and a Shipyard aluminum water bottle;
• Church-key Brewing of Campbellford, Ontario is giving away a brewery tour and lunch at their Stinking Rose pub...which I have every expectation could lead to one thing or another;
• Roland + Russell, Canada's nicest beer importers will be giving out a seasonal basket of miscellaneous love and good feeling;
• Jolly Pumpkin of Dexter, Michigan USA which has once again affirmed that timeless truth - "a t-shirt sounds great";
• Flossmoor Station Brewing, of Illinois is presenting a growler and a sampler to lucky winner when he or she next visits;
• Widmer Brothers of Portland, Oregon gives jingle bell laced notice: "we can send you 12 Widmer weizen glasses, 6 T-shirts, and probably some other small items" - that'll make six of you merry;
• Cracked Kettle beer store in Amsterdam, The Netherlands is giving out a Cracked Kettle t-shirt and a bottle of Westvleteren 12;
• Laurelwood Brewing Company, of Oregon pledges a T shirt, Hat, and 4 Pint Glasses to a US winner;
• New Holland Brewing of Michigan is giving out "one awesome t shirt"! I wonder if it is 12 feet tall - that would be awesome;
• Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew" is offering a signed, hardcover, first edition. Wow. And for those who don't win this prize (aka "humankind-1=X") order your copy at Amazon;
• TAPS, Canada's beer magazine is giving one lucky and hopefully literate winner a one year's subscription;
• Cigar City Brewing of Tampa Bay FLA has given us a t-shirt, pint glass, snifter glass, decal and hat and also announced the good news through the St. Pete's Times;
• Hopworks Urban Brewery of Portland Oregon has offered a growler full of organic beer with fill and an organic tshirt to the winner of the "best organic photo" catetgory...which begs the question if we have an organic photo category. Maybe we can go with "best cat and beer" picture instead;
• Oskar Blues Brewery of Colorado is offering an as yet unspecified "a couple prizes" - the whole mysteriousness thing is not traditionally a Yule thing but we can work with it;
• Dogfish Head Craft Brewery of Delaware will be mailing out a hat and a t-shirt to some lucky shutterbug;
• The Gunmakers Pub of London England which is offering a nod...which, is as good as a wink to a blind man...if you know what I mean, Ron;
• Roots Organic Brewing Company of Portland Oregon is slapping down a hat and a bottle of this years Epic Ale on the digital table. Righteous;
• The Granite Brewery and Restaurant of Toronto, Ontario is giving a brewery sweatshirt.;
• Monday Night Brewery; The Aleuminati have pledges "a couple of items"...which I think means stuff;
• Great Lakes Brewing of Toronto, Ontario will supply a t-shirt and a couple of Great Lakes glasses;
• Lew Bryson, fabulous beer author - a copy of New Jersey Breweries which can otherwise be obtained at Amazon or from Santa if you have been nice;
• Full Sail Brewing Company of Hood River, Oregon - a sweet hoodie;
• Evan Rail and CAMRA - a copy of Good Beer Guide Prague which the non-winners can get at Amazon;
• Lakes of Muskoka Brewery of Bracebridge, Ontario will put you in a hat which you really need when it is either cold or hot;
• ...and last but not least Steam Whistle Brewing of Toronto, Ontario which is pledging a very neato Retro Wall-Mounted Opener!!!

So that is all for now. Get more photos in and send some more prizes. I think that the entrants have outstripped the prize givers but such is life. We do this for the art. For art and about a 41% shot at a prize. Not bad odds.