Acorn On Vacation contest ends in a photo finish

Our annual Moorpark Acorn on Vacation contest was a resounding success again this year. The colorful results grace both our front page and page 32, which contains the second- and third-place winners as well as honorable mention.

Special congratulations to our first-place winner Tom Scroggins. Capturing a shot standing in front of a Buddhist shrine in its golden splendor, Scroggins provided a breathtaking moment for the judges. The Moorpark resident receives a check for $100 for his stunning picture.

The Moorpark Acorn staff would like to thank all in our community who went to the trouble, and fun, of taking our little paper with them on their well-deserved vacations. Over the years we have seen the Acorn newspapers held high in remote and frigid Antarctica, Red Square in Moscow, from the top of the Great Wall of China and snorkeling in the depths of reefs surrounding the Australian coast. Remarkable.

This "little paper that could" has enjoyed constant growth since its inception in the early 1970s. A curious intern in 1974 asked the paper's creator, Bill Poremba, the reason behind the Acorn's name. The answer: "To mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow."

With the wonderful community involvement of you, our readers, the Acorn had the chance to grow to a weekly distribution of 144,233 homes, delivered to the communities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Camarillo, Moorpark and Simi Valley, as well as surrounding areas.

Don't feel short changed if your photo did not run this week. We will run rest of the pictures, as long as they are suitable for a family paper, in upcoming issues this year until have all been published.

Keep those cards and letters coming. We have cut off accepting Moorpark Acorn on Vacation submissions for this contest year, but we can hardly wait to see next year's promising batch of pix.