Photographer of the Year 2026

19 May 2026

Mallow Camera Club hosted its annual Photographer of the Year Competition Awards during the Dinner & Awards Evening at Springfort Hall on Tuesday, 19th May 2026, bringing to a close a wonderful year of celebrations marking the club’s 40th Anniversary.

The Photographer of the Year Competition remains one of the highlights of the club calendar each year and once again attracted a superb standard of entries from members across all levels. Each participant submitted two printed monochrome images and two printed colour images, all judged individually rather than as a collective panel.

Four judging grades were included, ranging from Grade 1 for beginners and newer members to Grade 4 for the club’s most advanced photographers. Prizes were presented across every grade and category.

MCC was honoured to welcome an esteemed panel of judges

Helen Hanifan FIPF EFIAP/d1

Paul Stanley FIPF EFIAP/p ESFIAP

Conor O’Brien AIPF

Whose professionalism, constructive feedback and careful evaluation added greatly to the competition. The club extends its sincere appreciation to all three judges for giving so generously of their time and expertise.

A special acknowledgement was made to the Competition Team — Helen Vaughan, Viv Buckley and Lisa Egan — along with Anne Buckley for their outstanding work in organising and coordinating the event and managing arrangements with Springfort Hall. In appreciation of all their hard work and dedication throughout the year, the Competition Team and Anne Buckley were presented with a beautiful lily plant during the evening.

The club was also delighted to honour Jim McSweeney, Gerard O’Meara and Steve Murphy with Lifetime Membership to Mallow Camera Club in recognition and appreciation of their longstanding commitment to photography within Mallow and their dedication to Mallow Camera Club over many years.

We also thank all Club Members who printed, mounted and displayed the competition images, helping to create an engaging exhibition throughout the evening.

Congratulations to all the award recipients and thank you to every participant. The standard of work this year was exceptional, with many remarkable images on display.

For a detailed breakdown of results and glimpses of the winning images, please enjoy the following photographs.