Neil Burnell Wins Wex Photographer Of The Year

Self-taught, Brixham-based photographer Neil Burnell has been officially confirmed as Wex Photographer of the Year – for the second year running.

The graphic designer with a passion for landscapes (and angling) collected the 2017 trophy and £1,500 worth of Wex Photo Video vouchers at a special awards event at the company’s new 7,000 sq. ft. flagship store in London’s Whitechapel.

#WexMondays is one of the fastest-growing photo-competitions in the world – with entries now averaging around 17,000 a year. Each Monday photographers can tweet their best image (on any theme they choose) captured during the previous seven days. Weekly winners and runners-up go onto a leaderboard and points are accumulated across the year. This year’s winner had accumulated a total of 760 points.

© Neil Burnell

Commenting on the award, Neil said: "I am absolutely thrilled to win this award for the second year running. The #WexMondays concept works superbly well and keeps the contest alive throughout the year. All photographers can see what the others are doing each week and that in itself is highly motivational."

Handing over the trophy Louis Wahl, Wex chief customer officer said: "This weekly competition is hugely popular. It’s now in its fifth year and in that time we have had over 50,000 submissions. #WexMondays has become a community in itself; a self-sustaining community in which people share their skills, experiences and ideas. Photography can be quite a solitary activity – it’s one man or woman behind a camera, so to know we are helping people get together to share their passion to create such fantastic images really makes us feel special."

Runner-up (also for the second year in succession) was London-based Tony Sellen, a fine art photographer focusing largely on long exposure images. In third place was Cumbria-based Amy Bateman who whet the appetite of the panel with macro images of tadpoles – with imagery details not normally evident with the human eye.

An exhibition of all winning images through the 2017 contest will be on display at Wex Photo Video, 37-39 Commercial Road, Whitechapel (close to Aldgate East underground station) until 25 February.