Army photography: Personnel win prizes in service-wide competition

The winners of this year's Army Film and Photographic Competition have been announced, with budding photographers entering from all parts of the British Army.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, physical prints were missing and all judging and submissions were done electronically for the first time in the competition’s history.

Taking home British Army Photographer of the year and Professional Long Video was Corporal Ben Beckett of the Royal Logistic Corps for his efforts in the Video categories. 

A former Gunner in the Royal Artillery, Corporal Beckett is based in Tidworth as a part of the South West Press Office and he’s part of a combat camera team at Army headquarters in Andover.

Speaking about receiving the award, Cpl Beckett said it was a personal highlight after a particularly hard year.

"I'm over the moon that I was recognised for my hard work this year.

"Being able to capture and share the stories of the soldiers serving in the British Army is such a privilege.

"2020 was a tough year with COVID-19 but receiving the news I had won the accolade of being named British Army Photographer of the Year was a great way to end it," he added.

Other winners included Corporal Nathan Tanuku in the professional Category Portfolio, Rifleman Connor Eggett for Best Overall Army Image and Corporal Danny Houghton for the Best Online Image, voted for by the public.

Professional photographer, photo re-toucher and returning judge Mr Glyn Dewis said judging this year was "harder" than ever with such a high standard.

"Looking through so many images of such a high standard, to then choose winners and runners-up is quite a challenge; there were so many images I would have been extremely happy to have in my own portfolio," he said.

"This year, too, the amateur category submissions were nothing short of excellent, which again made for a very difficult task.

"However, there have to be winners and I'm extremely happy with those we selected; each demonstrated not just technical expertise and creativity on behalf of the photographer but actually put me as a judge right there in the moment. Congratulations to all!"

Ex-serving British Army photographer and now judge Russ Nolan said the standard of the professional photos was very high.

"As for the professionals, the creativity and camera skills that were demonstrated were truly of a high standard, making our job as judges a difficult one," he said.

"An example of this was Cpl Ben Beckett’s submission; not only did it show great camera work and dedication to the craft, but it was fantastic to see some of the photographers tackling a longer-form video, with his coming in at 33 minutes. 

"It just goes to show what can be achieved with some forethought and planning."

Prizes for this year's winners and runners-up will be given directly to individuals as the planned ceremony and presentation evening has been cancelled.