North Ronaldsey and Dartmoor sheep grazing under the Milky Way in Northumberland

BVA veterinary photographer of the year announced

Veterinary surgeons, Mandy Knight and Jen Rowland, stunned a panel of judges to clinch the joint top title in the British Veterinary Association’s (BVA) second annual photo competition, which saw almost 500 entries from vets across the UK offering a unique insight into the daily life of a vet and the wonderful world of animals.
 
Mandy Knight, an Australian-born small animal vet, won in the ‘You and Your Work’ category with her photograph ‘Happy enterotomy’, which captures a smiley squeeze-toy being removed from the stomach of a Labrador.

Mixed-practice vet Jen Rowland captured the judges’ attention with her image of rare and native North Ronaldsey and Dartmoor sheep grazing under the Milky Way in Northumberland in ‘The wonderful world of animals’ category.

The high standard of photographs entered made picking winners a difficult task for the judging panel, which comprised of overall winner of the British Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016, George Stoyle, BVA junior vice-president John Fishwick, Veterinary Record assistant editor and photographer, Gill Harris, and Association of Veterinary Students (AVS) senior vice-president, Hannah Mason.

Winning images were chosen based on their technical excellence, originality and how much they fulfilled the brief.
 
Alongside the two winning photographs, five photos in the ‘You and your work’ category and eight in ‘The wonderful world of animals’ category received highly commended awards – ranging from giraffes to gannets and Lackey moths.
 
British Veterinary Association President Gudrun Ravetz commented: “We are delighted by the number and quality of the entries we received this year. The veterinary team is uniquely placed to capture the many wonderful facets of its work on camera, and we are pleased that our members have shared their eye-catching snapshots for the BVA’s photography competition, offering us a vet’s-eye-view of their daily work and interaction with the wonderful world of animals.”
 
Mandy and Jen each receive £250 worth of gift vouchers from John Lewis. Their winning images alongside the commended photographs will premiere in an exhibition at BVA’s Members’ Day on 21 September at W5 Odyssey Belfast.
 
The gallery of BVA Veterinary photographer of the year is available to view at www.flickr.com/photos/britishvets/albums.

Image (C) Jen Rowland