"Here I am again, a sucker for punishment!" wrote Anna Beth Mecham on her entry for our 16th annual Itty Bitty Salt Lake City contest.

She didn't find all the answers but says she had a good time trying — even though, as she wandered downtown streets in the rain, she was "mistaken for a homeless person; a homeless person's friend, Marjorie; and even offered money from kind (LDS) conferencegoers!"

As usual, the contest challenged participants to match our clues — photos of tiny fragments of architecture, signage and other landmarks — with the real thing in a 20-block area downtown.

Clue No. 12 proved to be the hardest: an etched smiley face above a mountain ridge, on a water meter cover on the south side of 300 South, in front of the Utah Department of Commerce.

Larry Biddle of Stansbury Park spent 40 hours and only found half of the answers but reports cheerfully that he got a lot of exercise and ran into a friend from New Mexico he hadn't seen in four years. Biddle is a novice Itty Bitty-er. Some entrants, including Daniel Stober and the Ron Case family, have been doing the contest for a decade or more.

This year's winners, chosen randomly from all 74 correct entries, are:

First prize (a night on the town, including a stay for two at the Hotel Monaco, a $100 gift certificate to Ruth's Chris Steak House, two tickets to "Noises Off" at Pioneer Theatre Company, a $30 Gastronomy gift certificate and a Megaplex gift package): Allen and Kristie Soward and their family of Salt Lake City.

Second prize (light pink and lavender pearl necklace with diamond clasp by David Yurman from O.C. Tanner): Leonard and Judi Jensen of Salt Lake City.

Third prize (two tickets to the University of Utah vs. TCU football game plus two hospitality passes and a $50 gift certificate to FANZZ from the Utah Jazz): the Shaun and Heather Stevenett family (including itty bitty Itty Bitty-er Hallie, 18 months) of South Jordan.

Fourth prize (two all-day mountain bike rentals from Canyon Sports and a $25 gift certificate to Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore): Robert E. Monson of West Jordan.

This year's answers:

Clue No. 1: Children's Theatre and School of the Arts, 237 S. State

Clue No. 2: Nexia Holdings Inc. 59 W. 100 South

Clue No. 3: Bank of Utah, 210 E. South Temple

Clue No. 4: Settebello Pizzeria, 260 S. 200 West

Clue No. 5: DPR Communications, 159 W. Pierpont Ave.

Clue No. 6: sculpture, middle of 300 South, about 130 West