Welcome to DPC, meyersc11! I'm a relative newbie here, but I think I can address your initial question.
I've learned that, if you're shooting for points rather than just for yourself, voters are really looking for a photo that will scream "." It's not enough to have technically met the challenge, or have met it just in your own mind - you have to convey the sense of the topic to the voters in a strong way. Look at the Challenge Histories and you'll see the top photos are not just amazing photographs, but incredible examples of the topic.
Some voters don't seem to like needing to use the title to figure out what the photographer meant, but I always refer to the title if I'm confused about the relevance of the image, and it has often helped. I don't know if your title helped to convey why you thought your image met the challenge, but that could have helped.
Also, there's a decision you have to make about whether you're shooting for yourself or for scores. While I like to shoot for myself when not shooting for DPC, I really appreciate the feedback that I get on my images here. If I don't meet the challenge (and my first entry certainly didn't!), then all I get are "didn't meet the challenge" comments. On my other images, I've gotten really helpful comments.
Finally, good luck on the next image. Just chalk this up to experience & don't let it get you down!
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