Sandra McCarthy  

What an exciting year for me, having won the 2025 Photographer of the Year Award.

I have been participating in print competition since 2020. Putting your work out there for someone to judge is a humbling experience, but it is also a wonderful way to have your images critiqued so you can continue to grow your skills.

This year I submitted 8 images, all of which were animals, 7 of which were dogs. Working with animals adds an additional layer of complexity into photo making as they can be unpredictable. This unpredictability makes me prouder still that my images scored as well as they did with one image getting my highest score ever!

It’s so exciting to watch print competition live and seeing the scores and comments occurring on your work. It can also be really stressful, but in the end the feedback encourages me to do even better next year and to produce better work for my clients. Feedback is a gift!

If you’ve never participated, I highly encourage you to do so; at least take advantage of image critique offered by NHPPA before the competition. There’s always something to learn.