Winners of the 2010 Traveling Photography Contest of the Northwestern Regional Library were announced last night at the Charles H. Stone Memorial Library in Pilot Mountain, and the contest was celebrated with a reception and photography class.

This year’s theme was “Faces, Places, Spaces,” and there were 155 entries from Alleghany, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties. Anna Nichols, librarian at Charles H. Stone Memorial Library, was pleased with both the number of items entered and the number of people attending last night’s event.

“It’s a very well attended event,” she remarked.

She speculated that around 200 people would be coming through last night to look at the photographs on exhibition. Many members of various libraries in the region came to the event.

Christy Ellington, assistant branch librarian for Yadkin County Public Library, comes each year. She said, “It’s a good way to promote the arts. I really enjoy coming to this.”

Of the photographs, Ellington said, “It’s a pretty large variety across the board ... I think it’s really good this year.”

The night’s events began with a photography workshop. Jeanne Dobson, owner and operator of Yadkin River Gallery and Yadkin River Photography, taught about the rule of thirds in photography. Afterward she entertained questions from the crowd.

After the workshop, judge Pat Keiger spoke to the crowd about what the judges were looking for when evaluating the pieces. She said, “We tried to be objective about it.”

Judges chose the first, second, and third place winners and honorable mentions beforehand. The judges were Pat Keiger and Marty Nichols. After the workshop, event attendees got to mill about and do some voting of their own. Each person voted on his or her favorite piece overall.

Dobson looked at the photographs, and she said, “Phenomenal ... I’ve seen professionals that don’t have the level of quality that’s here today. And it’s so diverse. Everybody’s so creative.”

She added, “I’ll be back. That’s for sure.”

Anyone who has a library card with the Northwestern Regional Library system, which includes 13 libraries, can participate in the contest.

“It’s one of the things we really enjoy doing as a region,” said Nichols.

The show travels to all 13 library locations, but Pilot Mountain has hosted the opening exhibit for each of the four years.

“It’s a tradition with us,” Nichols remarked.

In the first year of the contest, 40 or 50 photographs were entered. The number of entries has been greater than 100 each of the past two years.

Nichols said, “It is growing exponentially ... And people look forward to it.”

The contest is divided by age and photo type, and each contestant can enter up to two pieces. Adults can win prize money for their pieces.

The first place winners for 2010 are Lizzy Robertson (5-8 age group, color); Kacey Caudill (9-12, color); Allyson Lineberry (13-17, black and white); Hannah Beasley (13-17, color); Julia Emerson (13-17, digitally altered); Cricket Gilliam (adult, black and white); Josh Sammons (adult, color); Josie Grogan (adult, digitally altered); Rebecca Cranfill (staff, black and white); and Sue Gentry (staff, color).

The best in show award went to Lisa Floyd, a patron of Charles H. Stone Memorial Library, for her piece in the adult category titled “Esmeraldita.” The people’s choice award went to Julia Emerson, of the East Bend Public Library, for her piece titled “I’ll Breathe in My Death” in the digitally altered category for 13-17 year olds.

Contact Meghann Evans at mevans@mtairynews.com or 719-1952.