Recognition Award 2025
Each year, the Special Recognition Award is presented to an individual who has made a significant, positive impact on the photography industry. This can be through their work in training, mentoring, judging, or their overall contributions in support of the industry.
This year we are awarding our Special Achievement to someone who’s has been a loyal member of our team here at The Society of Photographers for over 24 years.
Damian McGillicuddy says
“he is solely responsible for my bread making phase! However, I don’t think that is his greatest claim to fame.
I’ve known this person for over 25 years he was my first “Proper” editor as we worked together on Digital Photography & Creative Image maker- we were both at the bleeding edge of the digital capture and print revolution. That’s when I realised what a professional perfectionist this man is, who else would have you use a micrometer to measure the calendar of different papers!”
Damian goes on “there are millions of tails I could bore you with, but I won’t. The bit you are interested in is how did he get to be the image makers esteemed editor? Well, I had a friend called Phil Jones who had a newish Society and want to produce the industry’s best Photography magazine, I drove him over to North Wales to introduce Mike to Phil, gave my recommendation and the rest is history.”
Colin Jones says
“One of Damian’s proudest commissions was when Mike asked him to shoot the cover of the 100 editions of Imagemaker. Of course, Mike knew me well at this stage so wouldn’t let me have a free hand but challenged me to do a modern recreation of Holbines “The Ambassadors”
“My Dad Phil Jones says Like Damian, I can tell you many stories about Mike. Mike was not only our editor but also one of our lecturers. One of the first conventions Mike was on the early start and was moaning that there would not be anyone there. He then was Flabbergasted that the class was fill with only standing room. Those were the days.”
“I have worked closely with Mike on the magazine for many, many years. We have spent hours on Skype going back and forth and chewing the fat, to get each issue to press and make it a world-renowned magazine.
Mike always goes the extra mile, with a sharp sense of humour and even when life gets in the way, he continues to chip away in the background, putting together articles and planning the next series/
Mike thank you, for everything you’ve done and continue to do for us, it’s truly appreciated.”
Recognition Award 2025 – Mike McNamee FBPPA
