One of the highlights of the recent Discover Dogs show was the exciting announcement of the winners of the very first Dog Photographer of the Year competition. Open to everyone, the competition had a high standard of entrants and the 5 judges spent hours deciding upon the finalists. There were 4 categories of photo; Dogs at Work, Dogs at Play, Dog Portrait and Man’s Best Friend – as well as a free competition for under 16’s entitled ‘I love dogs because…’ and one winner from each category was chosen to go through to the final. The overall winner was then announced to be Clare Philips from Northampton, with her photograph of a terrier playing.

Rosemary Smart, Kennel Club Chief Executive and one of the judges of the competition said, “After a very difficult morning of judging entries, we reached the decision on the winning photograph because it was technically excellent. The shot was very natural, the dog was playing and enjoying itself and the photographer had managed to sum up the feeling of the dog, a real display of the passion the photographer felt for their subject.”

If you did not make it to Discover Dogs in November there is a chance to view all 25 winning entries to the competition at an exhibition being held from 5th December 2005 up until 27th January 2006 in the Kennel Club Art Gallery. The 5 winning entries in each of the 5 categories, exhibited together creates a stunning exhibition of really high quality photographs capturing the essence of man’s (and woman’s) best friend and the talent and enthusiasm of the photographers.

The Gallery is open Monday to Friday 9.30am – 4.30pm by appointment and admission is £2.50 per person. For more information call the gallery on Tel: 020 7518 1009, e-mail: artgallery@the-kennel-club.org.uk or visit the Art Gallery website

The competition has been a huge success in it’s inaugural year so if you missed your chance to enter and are keen to become the Dog Photographer of the Year 2006, the competition will be launched at Crufts at the Birmingham NEC in March.