I'd go with your original submission. In the second shot, the red cape is too fuzzy looking for me. Also, I prefer the dark red in the original over your other two.
The original is my favourite out of the three.
A brave choice to use the partial desat technique considering the amount of opposition there is to it on the site.
Very pleased to see that the image prevailed despite that.
I like the "subtlety" of having just the flashing piece of cloth rather than the whole figure, and the dog looks much more wolf-like than in your original. And it adds an element of tension by freezing the action just before the climactic moment -- the wolf's leap -- and we're left to wonder whether Red survives. Generating some kind of emotional connection between the photo and the viewer seems to be a common feature of "good" photos, this is an effective technique.
In the first image she could be running from anything (or nothing), and in the submission, the wolf just seems to me standing there; more like a tableau featuring the characters in the story than a capture of a moment of the action.
I really like #1 because of the creativity it shows. It is not in the norm for pictures, but I had a feeling it wouldn't do to well on dpc because of this reason.
#2 I like because of what GeneralE statement and I really love the look of the dog.
#3 I liked because of my daughters look and the dog looking at the basket as if he is going to get it.
I was very lucky to have the dog in the shot. I was taking pictures of her running through the trees and this lady stopped by and watched for a few minutes and than asked if I needed a big bad wolf. LOL...I said sure and took a few shots.
