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Although I had two images in the finals for Image of the Year with the Guild, I also knew that entering a small handful of images in the 2022 season meant that there would be no bars, points for the photographer of the year or grand titles in my corner because I wouldn’t have been able to hit the criteria needed by a fair stretch. I did, however, know that there were a great deal of our MTog family in the running for all of the above with really great chances, so I booked my awards ticket to act as a supporting screamer, clapper and proxy for those who both would and couldn’t attend in equal measure.
And I’m so damn glad I did!
Because someone will end up here looking for my finalists, I’ll get them out of the way first. Here were my two in the top 10 Gold awarded images of the 2022 season in the Pets category:
Onto the legends that are the Premium Members, whose commitment, dedication and growth has been incredible to witness over the past three years. I’m so very proud of everyone in this list and I’m just sorry that I couldn’t keep track of everyone on the night itself. Let’s run through the sections one by one to the best of my knowledge:
The Founders Cup:
Entry involves the submission of a themed three image mini portfolio or panel and is restricted to ‘Registered’ and ‘Qualified’ Guild members who have NOT previously WON any regional, national, or international photography competitions run by photographic bodies (such as the ‘Guild’s Image of the Year or Photographer of the Year titles).
MTog Gary Neville was a finalist in this competition for his wonderful bird imagery.
The Photographers Bar:
Any member who secures more than 24 points from image submitted into one category in 8 months of the competition will be awarded the Photographers Bar.
Current MTogs who received the Photographers Bar this year include:
- STog Frankie Adamson,
- Clara Allansson,
- Victoria Borton,
- Kathryn Dickinson
- Lucy Sellors-Duval
Current MTogs who received the Silver Bar for achieving a Bar this year but amassing at least 5 bars in total include:
- Dawn Cotterell
Current MTogs who achieved a Bar in two different categories include:
- Gary Neville
- Katie Brockman
- Jo Tressider in Pets and Natural World
Image of the Year
From the thousands of stunning entries into the Guild’s Image of the Month competition throughout 2022, the Judges have selected just 10 images in each genre to be shortlisted as the Finalists in the ‘Image of the Year’ Competition.
Current MTogs who achieved Image of the year finalist status include:
- Me in Pets
- STog Frankie Adamson in Pets
- Katie Brockman in Pets
- Katie Brockman in Nature & Wildlife
- STog Frankie Adamson in Nature & Wildlife
- Gary Neville in Nature & Wildlife
- Gary Neville in Birds
- Gary Neville in Events, Sports and Action
- Katie Dickinson in Equine
- Kirsty Bevan in Equine
Current MTogs who achieved placings in this competition include:
- Kirsty Bevan as Runner Up in Equine
- Gary Neville as Runner Up in Nature & Wildlife
- Katie Brockman as Runner Up in Pets
Current MTogs who achieved placings in the Overall Image of the Year competition include:
- Katie Brockman as Runner Up in the Members Choice Award of the Year
Photographer of the Year
The photographer who achieves the highest overall score in one of the Guilds 6 entry categories becomes that categories Photographer of the Year. The highest-scoring photographer across any two sections becomes the all-around Photographer of the Year. This year, the Guild added a national and international Photographer of the Year before an overall Photographer of the Year was announced.
Current MTogs who achieved a Photographer of the Year placing include:
- Gary Neville as a finalist in Natural World Photographer of the Year
- Katie Brockman as the Natural World Photographer of the Year
- Clara Allansson as a finalist in Pet Photographer of the Year
- STog Frankie Adamson as a finalist in Pet Photographer of the Year
- Victoria Borton as a finalist in Pet Photographer of the Year
- Clara Allansson as runner-up in the Pet Photographer of the Year
- Katie Brockman as the Pet Photographer of the Year
The International Photographer of the Year was none other than MTog Katie Brockman
The Overall Photographer of the Year for 2023 with the Guild of Photographers was again our very own Katie Brockman!
I will admit, by this point, I had Katie on Facebook Messenger video call and she watched the entire countdown and us screaming in excitement 🤣 Straight away I had to share my excitement on Instagram and Katie shared hers back in the story re-share:
What an incredible MTog haul and so incredibly well deserved. Everyone in this post so far has grafted for hours and hours to improve over and over again. Most are regulars in the Deep Critiques and most have also completed the infamous OAOCPC course too. Such epic commitment and I was so proud of you all for being so amazing that I cried!
I also need to note many students who are not current Premium Members but have completed the Online Advanced OCP Course or online One to One training who also had success at this event and congratulate them on their commitment to their craft too. A huge well done!
And finally, another HUGE congratulations to anyone who won any award on the evening. The images were incredible and it was a pleasure to be in a room with such insane talent!
A special mention of course to our friends at Digitalab and Click Props Backdrops who were also in attendance and continue to support us in all we do.
See you next year!