Last week, when I took my football pictures to the Chelsea Standard, Sports Editor Don didn’t greet me in the normal manner; instead of a typical greeting, he stuck out his hand and said, “Congratulations!” Since I was completely mystified as to what I had done to merit such a greeting — Was it because I made it up the stairs and through the door without tripping? Was it because I had trimmed my goatee? — he filled me in on the details.

A few months ago, Sports Editor Don entered a few of my sports shots into the Michigan Press Association‘s annual Better Newspaper Contest. (Member newspapers submit work to be judged by members of the Wisconsin Press Association, awards are given, people feel happy, obla dee, obla dah, life goes on.) Prior to entering my work, he showed me the shots he had selected, so I was aware of the contest at that time, but I managed to forget all about it. But then the MPA released the contest results last week, and … well, I’ll probably be better at remembering it in the future.

For the contest, newspapers are divided into eight groups: Daily Classes A-D and Weekly Classes A-D. The daily/weekly split is pretty obvious; the classes function a lot like school district classes: A is the biggest circulation, and D is the smallest. The Chelsea Standard and Dexter Leader newspapers are small-circulation weekly papers, so my work was judged in the “Sports Picture” category in the weekly class D group. And believe it or not, they liked me. They really liked me.

Those comments are in reference to this picture:

But it didn’t end there. Later in the same category:

Those comments are in reference to this picture:

If you want to see those results in context, you can view the full results; page 16 is the one you want.

It’s amusing to me that my award-winning work came from two of the four or five Dexter basketball games I covered for the Dexter Leader simply because the regular shooter wasn’t available and Sports Editor Don needed someone to cover the games. But hey, I’ll take it.

Also, later in the results, the Chelsea Standard — the usual destination for my pictures — won an award of its own in the “Sports Coverage” category, and it is somewhat relevant to my work.

So remember: when you utilize the services of Burrill Strong Photography, you’re not just hiring a photographer; you’re hiring an award-winning photographer.