Bray-Doyle students got to show some of their creative sides as they entered the Oklahoma Camera Club’s Youth photography contest. 15 students entered the contest with 27 entries total and the Donkeys had a really good showing. Bray-Doyle Journalism teacher said he was really impressed with how all of the students did. 

“I think for our first time entering the contest we did really well,” Tillson said. “Jade Eldridge finished in first place in the photo journalism category, Nichole Cothren finished in second in the landscape category and we had Austin Kelly, Katy Juntti, and Hannah Cox finish with an honorable mention in their three categories. ‘

Eldridge said she was really excited about finishing first in the entire state with her photo “Safe at third”. 

“Last year when I took photos at the baseball game I took a lot of them,” Eldridge said. “When I saw the picture I knew it was really good . When Mr. Tillson told us about the contest I knew that was the photo I wanted to enter.”

Cothren finished in second place in the landscape category with her photo “Dusk ‘til Dawn”. She was pleased on her finish with a sunset photo.

“We had a lot of sunset photos entered,” Cothren said. “Mr. Tillson had joked with us saying that if we didn’t win with at least one sunset photo he was going to be upset. So it feels good to be that one sunset photo. There’s nothing like capturing the beauty of my sunset state.”

The photos were judged by three judges on a 1-5 scale, with the maximum score being 15. At each stage of the judging the photos were  reviewed and a 13 might have done  better than a 14 during the placement stage.Tillson said he was really pleased with how each of his students scored. 

“We had three students finish with a 14 and six finish with a 13,” Tillson said. “Five of the six students who scored a 13 were our award winners and the students who scored a 14 didn’t place. All of the photos that were submitted were really solid photos and I’m really looking forward to next year and seeing how the students do.”

Tillson said the contest was not just limited to his journalism students as he had several enter who had just heard about the contest. 

“I had a number of students just catch me in the hallway telling me they wanted to enter the contest,” Tillson said. “I was really impressed with what these kids went and shot on their own and what talent they have.”