Greetings from the Critique Club!
Okay, there's me and then there's DPC. First, I'll make some guesses about DPC. This shot is noisy/grainy, as would be expected from an 800 ISO (adds grain) and a slow shutter speed (blur from camera motion). And then there's the f stop of 4, which does not have a large depth-of-field. In general, DPC likes as much of the picture to be in focus as possible. An f-stop of 8.0 is generally thought to be narrow enough for a long depth-of-field but wide enough to let some light in. Night shots are tricky, though. For one thing, you can't trust the automatic exposure setting. Night is supposed to be dark, but your camera doesn't know that. This shot looks much lighter than it needs to be. You could try underexposing by about 2 stops, or you could just find a fixed setting. For that lens, I would try ISO 400, f8, 1/60th sec (a general rule is that the fraction of a second should be the same number or higher as your lens size. since this lens is 18-55, 1/60th is a safe bet to avoid camera shake). I might even try ISO 200, f8, 1/60th sec. You'll have to experiment for yourself. And then there's color correction. This is very red, probably because the camera is expecting sunlight and getting incandescent light instead. You can set the white balance in camera or fix it in Photoshop later with color adjustments or "photo filter," if you have it.
So, that's for DPC. For me, grain, soft focus and even the red tint enhance and refine the solitary mood of the photo. And without a mood, the photo would be pointless. The subject is silhouetted in an interesting way, her shape is good and clear. I gave this a 6, the same score I gave one of the ribbon winners. 6 means that the photo is good, it succeeds. To score higher, it must be special. It must be something I would want to put on my wall. There were a lot of similar shots in this competition: a small lone figure in the distance, dominated by perspective lines from either a city street or an arcade. This one didn't have anything to make it stand out. The ACE sign? not very interesting to me. The wall of graffiti adds a little interest but is hardly a grabber. My favorite thing, besides the silhouetting, are the halos around the streetlamps (which would have been lost if you took my suggestions above. be careful of that!). Perhaps different processing could have emphasized that more. Black and white, for instance. The graffiti might have been more interesting in b/w as well, but I don't really know until I see it. You've got a great eye, though. Keep taking photographs!
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