The results are in! A big thank you to everyone who entered the Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine family photo competition. It was such a pleasure to go through the hundreds of fabulous entries and it was far from easy picking winners from such a strong collection.
Our overall winner was also the winner of the category ‘My family and other animals’, submitted by David Whitmarsh in Dorset. The judges loved the composition and the story it told. “We were looking for a family photograph that anyone would want in their collection and this image was at the top of the list” said the judges. David Whitmarsh told the story behind the winning photograph: “The Reay Family travelled by two covered wagons from Nebraska USA to Alberta Canada. My Great Aunt Grace is the woman on the horse with my grandfather holding the gun. I love this photo for its pioneering spirit.”
David Whitmarsh wins £200 courtesy of our friends at Vivid-Pix imaging software and all the winning entrants will receive a framed print of their winning photograph courtesy of Vivid-Pix plus a year’s subscription to Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine.
On holiday
Winner: Dan Darby
Runners-up: Amanda Webb, Barbara Cooper, Caroline Webber, Danielle Ford and Sally Griffith
This was our toughest category to judge with many fantastic images submitted. In the end the judges chose Dan Darby’s entry. Dan described why he liked the image so much: “There’s so much going on in this photo. The foreground shows my grandmother being taught to swim by my great grandfather in his fashionable 1930s swimming costume! The background shows many more bathers enjoying themselves.”
Special occasion
Winner: Linda Kent
Runners-up: Debbie Cameron, Joanna Tolhurst, Judith Thomas, Linda Kent, Rae Knight and Susan Reeve
Many people sent in wedding photographs for this category but the winning entry was this photograph sent in by Linda Kent, “I love this photo of my grandmother on a day out with her colleagues from the laundry where she worked and they all look very happy. The trip was in a Charabanc on an annual excursion to the country or seaside, which would have been an eagerly awaited event.”
Dressing up
Winner: Carol Bromley
Runners-up: Aileen Nock, Ed Ball, Joanna Tolhurst, John Fallows and Rae Knight
We had great fun judging this category but were all agreed on the overall winning picture submitted by Carol Bromley, “My grandmother, Annie Cracowski (front, left), taken May 1918, aged 24 at The Fancy Dress Studio, Oxford Street, London and sent to her older sister, Lily, as a postcard. Annie and her friends must have had so much fun choosing their costumes and trying to keep straight faces!”.
Solo photo
Winner: Frances Nelson
Runners-up: Alison Skipper, Carole Poulton, Carol Harrison, Heather Darby and Susan Reeve
This was one of our most popular categories with a fascinating winning entry submitted by Frances Nelson, “This car and the man looking back at me set me on a mission to find out who he was. The name Billy was all I had to start with, but with lots of detective work, including tracing the car, I discovered he was William Edward Norris, married to my grandfather’s sister.”
Family together
Winner: Valerie Fuller
Runners-up: Alan Slate, Anne Illingworth, David Payne, Graeme Davis and Lucille Robinson
From large group shots to intimate family portraits, this category had some great entries. The judges particularly loved the winning entry submitted by Valerie Fuller, “This photograph is of my great grandfather and great grandmother taken on 24 August 1926 three days after their 60th wedding anniversary. It was published in the Daily Herald with the caption “Happy Old Couple”.
My family and other animals
Winner: David Whitmarsh
Runners-up: Beverley Stephens, Elizabeth Ashton, Joanna Tolhurst, John Smith and Michael Pitt-Payne
We loved the variety of animals that clearly played an important part in people's lives, but it was the photograph of David Whitmarsh's great aunt Grace on a horse travelling to Canada that not only won this category but also the main prize.
