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This annual event recognises and celebrates the very best photographic equipment of the past year. This year there were 14 awards for outstanding products, 11 Good Service Awards for exceptional retailers, and three for inspirational photographers.
Grays of Westminster won the Platinum Good Service Award for receiving the most votes from their customers, while in the photography categories automotive photographer Amy Shore was awarded the new Rising Star award for most impressive up and coming photographer, Brent Stirton won the Power of Photography award for his moving work on documenting illegal rhino poaching, and Harry Benson was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award for a glittering career documenting some of the most memorable people and events of the last fifty years, including 12 US Presidents, the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and The Beatles first US tour.
The prize for the magazine’s annual Amateur Photographer of the Year competition was also presented at the awards, for the first time, with MD of Sigma Imaging Graham Armitage presenting the a pair of Sigma lenses worth over £2000 to Henrik Spranz of Austria.
The event closed with the Chris Cheesman Memorial Award for a lifetime’s service to the photo industy being presented to Jim Mackay.
Product Awards
Accessory of the Year – Lee Filters ProGlass IRND
Enthusiast Compact Camera of the Year – Olympus Tough TG-5
Premium Compact Camera of the Year – Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III
Consumer Interchangeable Lens Camera of the Year – Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III
Enthusiast Interchangeable Lens Camera of the Year – Fujifilm X-T20
Premium Interchangeable Lens Camera of the Year – Panasonic LUMIX DC-G9
Professional DSLR Camera of the Year – Nikon D850
Professional Mirrorless Camera of the Year – Sony Alpha 7R III
DSLR Prime Lens of the Year – Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM
Mirrorless Prime Lens of the Year – Fujifilm XF50mm F2 R WR
Zoom Lens of the Year – Tamron SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD G2
The Video Mode Video Product of the Year – Panasonic LUMIX DC-GH5
Innovation of the Year – Sony Alpha 9
Product of the Year – Nikon D850
Good Service Awards
Platinum
Grays of Westminster
Gold
Camera World
Clifton Cameras
Dale Photographic
Jessops
London Camera Exchange
Mr Cad
Park Cameras
SRB
Wex Photo Video
Photographer Awards
Rising Star Award: Amy Shore
Power of Photography Award: Brent Stirton
Exceptional Achievement in Photography Award: Harry Benson, CBE
Picture: Amy Shore
HLUHLUWE UMFOLOZI GAME RESERVE, KWAZULU NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA, 17 MAY 2016: A Black Rhino Bull is seen dead, poached for its horns less than 24 hours earlier at Hluhluwe Umfolozi Game Reserve, South Africa. It is suspected that the killers came from a local community approximately 5 kilometers away, entering the park illegally, shooting the rhino at a water hole with a high-powered, silenced hunting rifle. An autopsy and postmortem carried out by members of the KZN Ezemvelo later revealed that the large calibre bullet went straight through this rhino, causing massive tissue damage. It was noted that he did not die immediately but ran a short distance, fell to his knees and a coup de grace shot was administered to the head from close range. Black Rhino are the most endangered rhino, HluHluwe Umfolozi is one of the last repositories for these animals, with less than 3000 left in the wild today. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images Reportage for National Geographic Magazine.)
Picture: Beatles Pillow Fight by Harry Benson
Cheesman Memorial Award
Jim Mackay
