02 Jul 2024
Harpenden Photographic Society has announced the winner of its biggest annual accolade.
The society, now in its 88th year, holds five internal competitions throughout the season, where HPS members enter colour prints, monochrome prints or digital projected images (DPI).
The top scoring images in each competition, as determined by an external judge, are awarded points, which cumulatively count towards a final score total for each participating member.
Individual category winners were as follows:
Colour Print – Liz Thompson
Monochrome Print – Paul Johnson
Digital Projected Image – Peter Stevens.
Based on accumulated points across all three categories in the five competitions, the overall Photographer of the Year for the 2023/2034 season was Liz Thompson.
The club held two additional annual challenges:
Panel of Three (Jarvis Cup) – winner Colin Southgate
Audio Visual (AV) – winner Steve Collins
Awards were also given to Julie Cawthorpe for Best Exhibition Print and to Helen Ogleby for Best Newcomer.
Upon receiving news of the POTY title, Liz, who is also the club’s membership secretary, said: “I’m absolutely delighted to achieve Photographer of the Year, particularly as I’m in awe of so many of the talented photographers in our club. Joining Harpenden Photographic Society three years ago was absolutely the best step on my photographic journey. As well as having fun and meeting new friends, I’ve learned such a lot from other members and am constantly inspired by their work, – so achieving POTY is the icing on the cake!”
Chair of the society, Steve Collins, added: “I am absolutely thrilled that Liz has won the Photographer of the Year title this year, and it wasn’t really a surprise, as her work is always exceptional, both in execution and presentation, and has scored consistently well throughout the competition year. Huge congratulations to Liz, and to all of the category winners and runners-up, who contributed such incredible images this season.”
Members of the public are encouraged to join the friendly society, which begins its new season on Tuesday September 3. For more information, visit: www.harpendenphotographicsociety.co.uk
