I was a little bummed that the Black and White of (who knows what that thing is) didn’t make it. Something I noticed about nearly all of the finalists in was that these were the ones that made me stop and look. They grabbed my attention and held it. As far as the abstracts go, some of my favorites were not really understanding what I was looking at, or I found myself wondering what the photographer was thinking, or what the motivation was for the image. If the shot is technically & artistically sound, and THEN makes you stop, look and think on top of that, it has a very good chance of placing high. 
Gotta say, I love the Rainbow Lemon Drops. Good Luck!
Michael do you still have your Lighting Crash course available for purchase?
My vote goes to white pipes just because it catch’s my attention.
@ Julia- Not quite yet, sometime next year, it is the next DVD after the 60D Crash Course 🙂
Very curious how the jets over engine shot was taken. Talk about perfect timing! Very cool!