Second Place

Adorable and delightful pose and expression - love the direct and quizzical eye-contact. The placement in the frame works well for me here – nothing is cut off, he doesn’t feel crowded but we are nice and close. The eyes are most in focus (as appropriate) but the image seems just a bit soft and slightly over-exposed to me so it lacks the crispness that would take it over the top.

DOF is excellent, separating the subject from the background. Nice contrast, but the background's brightness steals attention from the subject. I'd crop off the branch on the left.