PSNZ/Ray Barlin Awards

Results of The Photographic Society of New Zealand/Ray Barlin Award Photographic Competition For Under 25.

The competition attracted a total of one hundred and twenty five entries from forty seven entrants from around New Zealand. The judges this year were Fellows of PSNZ, Bruce Shanks and Bob McCree.

The judges were pleased to see the creative works entered for this year’s competition. There were overall a good variety of subject matters and interesting attempts executed using digital and traditional methods. The competition proves that there is a lot of interest in photography and the art form is developing and growing here in New Zealand.

The 1st prize winner for this year’s PSNZ/Ray Barlin Award is Jessica Williamson a 24 years old photographer from Taradale, Napier. Jessica is studying both photography and design through the Learning Connexion and found this course to be very inspiring. A multitalented girl, she also writes for a range of lifestyle and technology articles for Etch, a bi-monthly online magazine targeted at young, successful kiwis.

The 2nd prize winner is Camus Wyatt from Northland, Wellington. Camus just finished studying at Victoria University of Wellington, with a BA in International Relations and History. Photography is a passion for him because he likes the ability of the lens to produce new perspectives on surroundings and says photography is very much the product of a personal vision. ‘Dragonfly’ is the product of a perspective he got from getting down very close to the ground and shooting a dragonfly against the sky and a cloud.

The 3rd prize winner is Kate Walmsley from Karori, Wellington. Kate is a15 years old in Year 11 (Form 5) at the Wellington Girls’ College. She has been greatly inspired to do photography by her mum who bought the first camera (a simple film camera) for her when I was eight years old. Kate has been photographing since. She is currently in the process of organizing a photography exhibition with two friends at Zeal Wellington later on this year.

Due to the high standard of entries, the judges picked out two highly commended entries belonging to Camus Wyatt, Wellington and Tara Douglas from Dunedin.

Tara is a 21 year old studying at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art, specialising in Photography and am in her final year. She will pursue it as a career after finishing her studies.

The prizes for this year’s awards were book vouchers: $250 for 1st prize, $150 for 2nd prize and $100 for third prize.