Every other Spring, an international group of photographers and reviewers gathers in Portland, Oregon for a week-long "celebration of photography," called Photolucida. Their mission: an increased understanding of the world through photography. Their goal is to promote in-depth, informed, and supportive dialog between photographers, gallery owners, publishers and pundits of various sorts, and thus to promote the culture of photography.

Photolucida publishes monographs for two or more artists (who haven't previously published monographs) selected from the top-scoring finalists of its review. Lisa Hunter shared the shortlist and the Critical Mass winners on her website this weekend, and Beth Dow, a Jen Bekman represented artist and 20x200 edition-maker, is on the shortlist for the book prize.

Five Hey, Hot Shot! winners are among this year's top 50:

Colin Blakely
James Rajotte
Daniel Traub
Ian van Coller
Sarah Small

A Hey, Hot Shot! honorable mention makes an appearance on the list too: Alejandro Cartagena.