Earlier today, the Portrait Masters Awards & Accreditation program announced the winners of its portrait photography competition—which honors top talent from around the world—and also welcomed one new fellow, 11 new masters and 34 new associates to its ranks of accredited photographers.

The Awards and Accreditation program, part of the The Portrait System (formerly Sue Bryce Education) and The Portrait Masters (TPM) was created in 2017 to acknowledge, honor, and celebrate high-quality professional work and arm photographers with the public recognition they deserve. There are three awards rounds every year—with rounds opening in the winter, spring, and fall, and winners announced in the spring, summer, and late fall.

“The awards part is the celebration of really pushing your craft as a photographer, and the accreditation is more a benchmark accolade through your journey from obtaining that professional standard and beyond, and having that recognition of being able to creating work that is deemed of professional standard through my judging team,” said Richard Wood, Director of The Portrait Masters Awards & Accreditation, earlier today.

In this final round of the year, the Grand Champion Award went to Pamela Gagnon for a black-and-white portrait that also won top prize in the Teen & Senior Portrait category. Gagnon’s image was selected from a collection of more than 4,300 images entered by photographers from 40 countries.

[Read: All About The Portrait Masters Awards & Accreditation Program]

“Pamela’s portrait is a beautiful display of in-camera capture. It portrays beautiful self-connection from the subject as she floats amongst exquisite black-and-white, moody tones. Whilst a minimalist portrait, it is simplicity in its finest form, as it oozes emotion, feeling and beauty,” said Wood.

In addition to Gagnon’s award and $1,500 cash prize, there were also awards and $1,000 cash prizes given to the top images in 12 additional categories that span a range of current portrait photography styles and genres including Contemporary, Black & White, Documentary, Maternity, Wedding, Boudoir, and Pet. (See some of the winning images in our gallery above; view the full online gallery HERE.)

Also announced today, Norway photographer Malin Roksvåg became a newly accredited Fellow of The Portrait Masters by consistently producing “remarkable photographic work that was rated highly by an international team of jurors,” according to the TPM press release. Roksvåg becomes just the 15th Fellow since the program launched in 2017 by the founders of The Portrait System and The Portrait Masters.

On her website, Roksvåg writes that she “photographs women, babies, children and confirmation guests in her small downtown studio, or outside. As a mother of four, there is at least one thing I can agree on: Children change so quickly, and each age has its charms (and challenges!) so remember to take care of the memories!”

In total, The Portrait Masters Awards and Accreditation program today welcomed 11 new accredited Masters and 34 new Associates. The full directory of accredited photographers can be found HERE.

Learn more about The Portrait Masters Awards & Accreditation, including all the rules and how to enter, HERE.