The RPS 26th International Audio Visual Festival
Introduction from the Festival Director
Alastair Taylor ARPS DPAGB/AV AV-AFIAP
I am delighted to present the catalogue for the 26th Royal Photographic Society (RPS) International Audio Visual Festival (IAVF). I would like to put on the record my thanks and appreciation to the three judges, the entrants from around the world, those people who attended the festival, either on -line or at the Gala Show, and nally the various members of the RPS Audio Visual Group Committee, and others, who volunteered their help and assistance which was fundamental in making the event the success it was. The names of these helpers are listed overleaf.
For this IAVF, we adopted a different approach. I am pleased that our on -line sessions on three consecutive evenings, tted in with the various time zones of our international entrants. This allowed a wide audience to view the IAVF entries.
We managed the “big screen, big sound ” experience at the Gala Show where we showed the award winners and announced the IAVF results. We chose a new central venue at Worcester University which gave participants an enjoyable and social day. All in all, this new format, although different, was a great success.
The table below shows the key statistics for the IAVF. I am especially pleased that we had entries from thirteen different countries. Although the number of entries has declined from previous years, it was good to have some rst time entrants as well as established Audio Visual producers.
The IAVF is a team effort, and we extend our thanks and appreciation to the following:
The RPS AV Group Committee for their support and ideas on how to make the IAVF a success, and the general contribution to the Gala Show;
Sheila Haycox for looking after the IAVF pages on the RPS website and booking system;
Andrew Gagg for his work producing the various IAVF graphics, certi cates and media and his patience in waiting for the IAVF Director to make decisions;
Ian Bateman for coordinating the projection of the on -line shows;
Linda Gibbs for her role as the MC for the IAVF on -line sessions and Gala Show;
Edgar Gibbs for providing support and advice based on his previous experience as Festival Director;
Martin Addison and Andrew Gagg for liaising with the University of Worcester;
Keith Watson for being the of cial Gala Show photographer;
The Staff at the RPS and Worcester University for their support
The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) for Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals;
The International Federation for Photographic Art (FIAP) for Gold, Silver, & Bronze Medals, & Ribbons;
The Royal Photographic Society AV Group for providing the George & Doreen Pollock Medal;
John Willett for sponsoring The Sound Link Medal for ‘The Best Sound ’;
Martin Fry for sponsoring The Martin Fry Medal;
Linda Taylor for helping with the refreshments
Everyone who generously loaned equipment for the festival.
Members of the Festival Jury
Hon MPSSA, MPSSA, FPSSA(Dux), AV -FPSSA, MFIAP, ESFIAP, FPSA
Robert Albright Hon FRPS
Robert gained his FRPS in AV in 2002 at the 25th anniversary of The RPS AV Group. He went on to receive the HonFRPS distinction in 2017 when he became the RPS President for which he served a two year term. He has judged the RPS International AV Festival when it was held at the Royal Agricultural College and the and RPS National AV Championship at Sutton Bonington. He is the current Chair of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) AV Awards assessments and was previously Chair RPS Slide-Sound Distinctions Panel.
Robert has judged AV competitions in Australia, Italy and the UK and most recently in 2024 the Irish International and National Championships – after a very bumpy Ight! He has twice won the Gold Medal at the RPS NAVC, the Silver Medal at the RPS IAVF as well as Gold Medals at the European Championship (Belgium), The Great Northern AV festival and the IAC Geoffrey Round/Peter Coles AV Competition. Robert assesses AV in the context of literary story-telling, art history, the history of photography since 1827 and lm history from 1890. The production must aim to engage, inform, move emotionally, to entertain or to amuse. His pet hate is use of the word ‘sequence’ as this implies part of a scene in a lm or a string of images with no meaningful content.
Jean Paul Petit EFIAP
Jean Paul has been passionate about photographic lm since 1975, and he has created, with varying degrees of success, around thirty AV Productions, or Slideshows as he likes to call them. He has shared this passion by writing two educational books on slideshows ("Slideshows: An Art, a Hobby, a Passion" and "Create Your Digital Slideshows").
He has organised “the Paris Trophy ” with Michel Paret for 21 years, and chairs the Objectif Image association, which is very active in the audio visual eld. Jean Paul is interested in the projected image in all its forms and visits many contemporary art exhibitions where you can see a huge number of very interesting video works from a creative perspective. He also enjoys wandering around museums. He is particularly sensitive to originality and creativity and likes to be kept on the edge of his seat from the beginning to the end of a AV production. Rigor, thoroughness of work, technical cleanliness are also criteria to which he attaches great importance.
Robert Albright
Hon FRPS
Jury Chair
Jean Paul Petit
EFIAP
Jill Sneesby
Jill Sneesby
Hon MPSSA, MPSSA, FPSSA(Dux), AV -FPSSA, MFIAP, ESFIAP, FPSA
Jill is a club, salon & honours judge and has travelled extensively to judge many international events including the HIPA Awards in Dubai, the Emirates Photography Competition in Abu Dhabi, the Al Thani Awards in Austria, the FIAP Nature Biennials in India as well as numerous international events in China and the Adelaide Audio Visual Festival in Australia.
Jill is delighted to add the RPS International Audio Visual Festival to her list When she is not called on to judge she often enters and has achieved considerable success both Internationally (Wildlife Photographer of the Year & Nature’s Best) and Nationally (Fuji, Getaway & Agfa Awards) as well as on the salon circuit. Her most notable win being of the Toyota Landcruiser in the Africa Photographic Awards.
Jill has been awarded honours in prints, slides and audio visual and was the rst person to achieve the MPSSA. Internationally she also achieved her FRPS and MFIAP in nature prints and her FPSA and was awarded the Hon CPA and Hon FIP. For Jill, the magic of audio visual is the ability to use images, sound and AV techniques to share emotions and to tell the story
We are grateful to the 2025 RPS IAVF Jury for agreeing to act as Judges and for their hard work reviewing the entries and arriving at decision on winners and acceptances.
RPS IAVF Graphics
You will recall from previous festivals that the various graphics used to celebrate the location used for the IAVF. It is no different this time and we are grateful to Andrew Gagg for taking on this challenge. And it is Andrew’s home city!
To quote Andrew
"The black pears on Worcester’s coat of arms are steeped in local legend and historical symbolism. They represent the Black Worcester pear, a hardy cooking variety with deep roots in the region’s identity.
One of the most enduring stories dates back to 1415, when Worcestershire bowmen are said to have carried banners depicting a pear tree laden with fruit at the Battle of Agincourt. The poet Michael Drayton even referenced this in his poem about the battle: “Wor’ster a pear tree laden with its fruit”.
Another key moment came in 1575, during a visit by Queen Elizabeth I to Worcester. The city authorities reportedly transplanted a pear tree heavy with fruit to the Foregate in her honour. So impressed was the Queen by the tree’ s abundance and the fact that the fruit had not been picked, she is said to have granted Worcester the right to add three black pears to its coat of arms.
Today, the black pear remains a proud emblem across Worcestershire— from the city’s crest to the county cricket club’s badge. It ’s a symbol of resilience, heritage, and a touch of royal favour."
TOP OF FESTIVAL AWARDS
RPS Grand Prix Trophy, RPS Gold Medal and the FIAP Blue Badge
The Tiny World of Walter Zapp by Richard Brown, England
FIAP Gold Medal
French Canes by Michel & Michèle Paret, France
RECOGNITION AWARDS
RPS Silver Medal for ‘Photography’
Joy and the Journeymen by Ray Grover, England
FIAP Silver Medal for ‘ Production’
Disconnected by Francesca Gernetti and Carla Fiorina, Italy
Sound Link Medal for ‘ Best Sound’
Vogalonga by Malcolm Imhoff, England
JUDGES ’ AWARDS
FIAP Bronze Medal for ‘Historical Event’
My Name is Günter by Daniele Ferretti, Italy
RPS Bronze Medal for ‘ Emotional Response’
Inclusion by Gérard Diebold, France
OTHER AWARDS
The George and Doreen Pollock Medal
(Best first time entrant who has not won any other award in a previous Festival/Competition)
Witnessing the Beginning by Garry Paterson, Australia
The Martin Fry Medal
(Best interpretation of a song)
Signs in the Dark by Martin Fry, England
HIGHLY COMMENDED
(in no particular order)
RPS Ribbon
Journey to a Furever Home by Maggie Tan, Australia
RPS Ribbon
In Retrospect by Maureen Martin, England
RPS Ribbon
A Window of Opportunity by Linda Gibbs and Edgar Gibbs, Wales
RPS Ribbon
Hundertwasser by Keith Leedham, England
RPS Ribbon
Imagination by Brendan Gillan, Northern Ireland
RPS Ribbon
I Kissed a Lot of Frogs by Cathy Fordham, England
FIAP Ribbon
Artist Author Itinerant Spy by Tim Harvey, England
FIAP Ribbon
If by Adrian Battersby, England
FIAP Ribbon
Rooisand Pearl of the Overberg by Friso Woudstra, South Africa
FIAP Ribbon
Two Flags by Ian Bateman, England
FIAP Ribbon
Church of Two Hearts by Ján Gre š, Slovakia
FIAP Ribbon
The City by Mike Pill, England
COMMENDED
(in no particular order)
RPS AV Group Certi cate
I Remember by Gabriele Pinardi and Ennio Parmigiani, Italy
RPS AV Group Certi cate
The Dictionary Man by Sheila Haycox, England
RPS AV Group Certi cate
A Good Mugging by Sally Hinton, Australia
RPS AV Group Certi cate
Walls of Stone by Jan Demuzere, Belgium
RPS AV Group Certi cate
Wilderspin by Alan Tyrer, England
RPS AV Group Certi cate
White Sands, Beauty with a Ragged Edge by Marcel Batist, The Netherlands
TOP OF FESTIVAL AWARDS
RPS Grand Prix Trophy, RPS Gold Medal and the FIAP Blue Badge The Tiny World of Walter Zapp by Richard Brown, England
TOP OF FESTIVAL AWARDS
FIAP Gold Medal
French Canes by Michel & Michèle Paret, France
RECOGNITION AWARDS
RPS Grand
RPS Silver Medal for ‘Photography’ Joy and the Journeymen by Ray Grover, England
FIAP Silver Medal for ‘ Production’ Disconnected by Carla Fiorina and Francesca Gernetti , Italy
Sound Link Medal for ‘ Best Sound’ Vogalonga by Malcolm Imhoff, England
JUDGES ’ AWARDS
My Name is Günter by Daniele Ferretti, Italy
FIAP Bronze Medal for ‘Historical Event’
JUDGES ’ AWARDS
RPS Bronze Medal for ‘ Emotional Response’ Inclusion by Gérard Diebold, France
OTHER AWARDS
The George and Doreen Pollock Medal (Best first time entrant who has not won any other award in a previous Festival/Competition) Witnessing the Beginning by Garry Paterson, Australia
OTHER AWARDS
The Martin Fry Medal (Best interpretation of a song) Signs in the Dark by Martin Fry, England
FIAP Ribbon
Church of Two Hearts by Ján Gre š, Slovakia
FIAP Ribbon
The City by Mike Pill, England
FIAP Ribbon
Rooisand Pearl of the Overberg by Friso Woudstra, South Africa
FIAP Ribbon
Two Flags by Ian Bateman, England
FIAP Ribbon
Artist Author Itinerant Spy by Tim Harvey, England
FIAP Ribbon
If by Adrian Battersby, England
RPS Ribbon
Imagination by Brendan Gillan, Northern Ireland
RPS Ribbon
I Kissed a Lot of Frogs by Cathy Fordham, England
Window of Opportunity by Linda
RPS Ribbon
A
Gibbs and Edgar Gibbs, Wales
RPS Ribbon Hundertwasser by Keith Leedham, England
Journey to a Furever Home by Maggie Tan, Australia
In Retrospect by Maureen Martin, England
RPS Ribbon
RPS Ribbon
RPS AV Group Certi cate
Remember
RPS AV Group Certi cate
Dictionary
I
by Gabriele Pinardi and Ennio Parmigiani, Italy
The
Man by Sheila Haycox, England
RPS AV Group Certi cate
AV Group Certi cate
Walls of Stone by Jan Demuzere, Belgium
RPS
White Sands, Beauty with a Ragged Edge by Marcel Batist, The Netherlands
RPS AV Group Certi cate
RPS AV Group Certi cate
A Good Mugging by Sally Hinton, Australia
Wilderspin by Alan Tyrer, England
FIAP ACCEPTANCES
All twenty seven of the Awards listed were awarded a FIAP Acceptance. This Salon has received the High Patronage of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP Patronage Number 2025/396)
THE AUDIENCE VOTE
All entries were shown on-line on 17, 18 and 19 November 2025. For each day, the audience was entitle to cast one vote for the AV of their choice on that day. This audience vote was run independently of the formal judging. The winners of the audience votes were:
Tuesday 18 November: My Name is Günter by Daniele Ferretti, Italy
Wednesday 19 November: I Kissed a Lot of Frogs by Cathy Fordham, England
Thursday 20 November: Wilderspin by Alan Tyrer, England
Photographs from the Gala Show on 22 November 2025
