Photographer Of The Year 2016 : Winner and Final Ranking

Another year has gone by and it has been another 12 months of non-stop but fun-filled competition among our photographer members. True to Focus Bulacan's maxim "clearer, sharper, better", our contests are aimed at developing skills via year-round challenges. It's a merit-based system that ultimately decides the best of the best when all the points are tallied by the end of the year. It's not easy to have the drive and motivation to compete and do your best for a whole year, that's why the year-end awards are sources of pride for the winners.

The final numbers for our 2016 Competition : 12 months, 12 theme contests, 10 photomeet contests, 2 exhibits, and 1 Bulacan-wide competition (Larawang Bulakenyo). After all was said and done, the winners of our major awards (Newcomer Of The Year, Most Improved Photographer, and the Photographer Of The Year) are revealed :

(Click play to view Photographer Of The Year 2016 announcement video)

JER SANDEL IS FOCUS BULACAN'S PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR FOR 2016. CONGRATULATIONS! Jer won a Focus competition record 8 first-place finishes in this year's contests to seal the award, but not without a tough fight from other Focus shooters.

Focus Bulacan 2016 Photographer Of The Year Jer Sandel

Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way. You know who you are. Thanks to my fellow competitors who really challenged the heck out of me. That's what I entered the competition for, really, to experience that challenge that I didn't get to do when I was handling the contests the previous years. So thank you for allowing me to join the competition in 2016. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ang hirap pala kapag malapit na 'yung deadline tapos wala ka pang entry. Nakaka-pressure. And the excitement everytime you wait for the results, to find out if you were able to convey your idea well to the viewers. I enjoyed that. To everyone who voted for my entries, thank you. To those who didn't, thank you as well. Getting your vote the next time became my extra motivation. Congratulations to all the participants! The field is much tougher now as we're all improving because of competition. Let's keep it up as we take on bigger challenges." - Jer Sandel

For her marked development and astonishing rise in the competition rankings (19th place in 2015 to 4th place in 2016), our Most Improved Photographer is none other than ELENA TAEZA.

2016 Most Improved Photographer Elena Taeza

Una sa lahat, maraming salamat, Focus Bulacan. Pasasalamat din sa lahat ng kapwa photographer na naging gabay ko at nakasama sa mga photowalk. Isa po itong malaking inspirasyon." - Elena Taeza

Our Newcomer Of The Year award is for the best-ranking photographer who was admitted as an official Focus member during the calendar year. The clear-cut 2016 Newcomer Of The Year is the talented JOEY RAMOS.

2016 Newcomer Of The Year Joey Ramos

I would like to thank my Focus family for welcoming me. I remember that it was sometime over a year ago when I joined one of your photo contests as an outsider. I am also honored that I was accepted as a non-Bulakenyo member of this prestigious club. I hope I bring justice to this award being the Newcomer of the Year. Rest assured, I will share whatever talent I have that will benefit the whole group. Again thank you for this wonderful award." - Joey Ramos

And here is the year-end ranking of our 2016 Competition. The Top 10 and their accumulated points :

Aside from the Photographer Of The Year glass plaque, our winner Jer Sandel also gets a Ricoh Theta S 360-degree camera as prize.

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At the awarding, plaques for the Kwentong Kenyo exhibit winners were also presented : "Juror's Choice" award to JULIUS CALZO and "People's Choice" plaque to CHI LOPEZ.

Kwentong Kenyo Exhibit Juror's Choice winner Julius Calzo

Kwentong Kenyo Exhibit People's Choice winner Chi Lopez

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Our special thanks to the following :
TRIPLECUP ADVERTISING for the plaques
BLUPRINT STUDIO for the awarding photoshoot venue
ALIH VIAJE for the POTY announcement video footage of the winner
ROBERT GERSON DOMINGO for shooting the awarding photos
and finally
AMEN ALCORIZA for facilitating our 2016 competition

Congratulations to the winners! 2016 is in the books. A bigger yet tougher 2017 competition looms in the horizon. Watch out for the announcement of changes and other details very soon!