Mallow Camera Club Takes National Photography Title

Mallow Camera Club has been named as the top photography club in the country following a fraught battle for the national title in Athlone last weekend.
Camera clubs from across the 26 counties battled it out for the top title at the National League Finals, a major competitive event run by the Irish Photographic Federation. From Limerick to Navan, Wexford to Kilkenny, photographers from camera clubs around the country gathered in Athlone Institute of Technology last weekend for what was one of the biggest competitive events in the amateur photography calendar in Ireland.
The two-day event showcased the best of Irish amateur photography and drew large numbers of photography enthusiasts and spectators. As always, the annual competition proved to be a hotly contested event as camera clubs vied for the overall title and honour of taking home the ‘Rose Bowl’. This year Mallow Camera Club staved off stiff competition from Drogheda and Dundalk to take the overall title having impressed the external judges with their stunning panels of black and white and colour images.
It is the first time that a club from the Southern Association of Camera Clubs has taken home the ‘Rose Bowl’ and scooping the overall prize was made ever sweeter for the Mallow club, which also celebrates its Silver Jubilee this year. Drogheda Photographic Club took second place and Dundalk Photographic Society took third place in this year’s event. A number of other prizes were also awarded for best colour and monochrome images and Mallow Camera Club also swept the boards on this occasion to take seven out of ten awards and commendations.
Mallow club members, John Hooton, Morgan O’Neill, and Brid Coakley took the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively in the colour category. Four club members also received honorable mentions in the colour and monochrome section. The gold medal in the monochrome section went to Philip Naum from Wexford Camera Club, while Drogheda’s Des Clinton and Ruth Kelly clinched both silver and bronze medals
in this category.
The weekend also saw the retirement of IPF stalwart Sean Casey, regarded by many as the face of Irish amateur photography for more than three decades. The Dundalk-based photographer stood down from his role as national secretary of the Federation after 35 years at the forefront and will be sorely missed by his many friends in the photographic world in Ireland and beyond. A special presentation was made to Mr Casey over the weekend to mark the significant contribution he has made to promoting and raising the standards of amateur photography since 1976.
The winning panels