With the club football championships under way, amateur photographers are reminded that the inaugural GAA photography competition in memory of the late Michael ‘Jack’ O’Donnell is open and inviting entries.
Photographers are invited to submit a photograph on a Donegal GAA theme, or of a Donegal landscape, by 23 October, the day after the county senior football final.
The winning image, to be selected by a panel of judges, will receive the inaugural Michael Jack ‘Pandy’ Memorial award.
The award was launched in February at the Naomh Conaill GAA club dinner dance by Donegal GAA assistant secretary Ed Byrne who had approached the O’Donnell family, and his beloved partner Bernie, about establishing the award to commemorate Michael and his rich contribution to the Association.
Michael spent more than 40 years on the sidelines capturing thousands of images from Gaelic games across the county and the country.
A passionate Naomh Conaill man, Michael was never prouder than when his club won the Dr Maguire Cup, or ‘Pandy’ as he called it, for the first time in 2005, and was privileged to photograph their victories again in 2010, 2015 and 2019.
Sadly, Michael passed away in May 2021, a few months before Naomh Conaill won the covid-delayed 2020 final.
He was aged just 67.
Ed Byrne recalled that,
“His body of work, in photographing everything from our biggest days in Croke Park to the club sports day, captured the essence of our Association and his love for our games. He added,
“We hope this award will inspire photographers to capture an image that encapsulates what the GAA means to them.”
Competition rules
Amateur photographers can submit a maximum of 5 [FIVE] photographs, on a GAA or Donegal theme, to michaeljackpandy@gmail.com by 5pm on Monday 23 October.
Images must be entered by e-mail as attachments in the digital jpeg format and must be no more than 20mb in size. Hard copies cannot be accepted.
Entries must be accompanied by the photographer’s name, email address, a caption describing the photograph and the location at which it was taken, otherwise your entry will not be considered.
Photographs must have been taken during 2023 and should not have been previously published.
We look forward to sifting through the many entries and thank those who were to the forefront of getting this competition up and running.
By Sinéad Breen Donegal PRO Thu 14th Sep
