Meet Our Judges | Virginia Living Photography Awards 2026

Meet the distinguished judging panel for the Virginia Living Photography Awards 2026. Our 15 expert judges represent Virginia’s leading institutions in photography, art education, museum curation, advertising, and publishing. This diverse panel includes museum directors from the Branch Museum of Design and Nepenthe Gallery, professors from VCU and UVA, creative directors from top Virginia advertising agencies, award-winning Virginia Living photographers, and the magazine’s editorial leadership. Each judge brings unique expertise in evaluating visual excellence, technical skill, and creative storytelling.

Museum & Gallery Professionals

Anne Fafara

Executive Director/co-owner at Nepenthe Gallery

Anne serves on the staff at Nepenthe Gallery, where she champions local Virginia artists and promotes the Commonwealth’s vibrant arts community. A lifelong advocate for the arts with deep Virginia roots, she brings valuable perspective from her work in gallery curation and her successful leadership of the “Save River Farm” campaign. Her passion for visual arts began at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and continues through her dedication to supporting and celebrating Virginia’s creative talent.

Kristen Cavallo 

Executive Director at Branch Museum of Design in Richmond

As Executive Director of The Branch Museum of Design—Virginia’s only design museum and one of the nation’s top twenty for design—Kristen brings three decades of creative leadership to our judging panel. Previously, she served as Global CEO of MullenLowe and CEO of The Martin Agency, where she led the agency to win Adweek’s U.S. Agency of the Year (2021, 2022) and Ad Age’s Agency of the Year (2023), while earning recognition as Virginia Businessperson of the Year. A globally respected voice in creativity and visual storytelling, Kristen champions the power of original creative ideas to drive cultural change, making her an invaluable judge for recognizing photographic excellence.

Pam Doss

Executive Director at Bay School of the Arts

Pam Doss is a veteran, artist, educator, and arts administrator, currently the executive director at the Bay School Community Arts Center in Mathews, Virginia. She trained in art history and criticism, art education, and studio art at Cornell University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Texas – San Antonio, and the Southwest School of Art & Craft. Her personal artistic passion is ceramics, especially the unpredictability of raku firing.

University Professors

Dr. Carmenita Higginbotham

Dean of the Arts School at VCU

Higginbotham is an art historian whose research and scholarship examine 20th century American art, urban art, race and representation, and American popular culture. She has lectured extensively on the history of American art, popular visual culture, and art film. She has been a featured scholar and consultant in documentaries and in interviews with PBS, The History Channel, CNN, CNBC and The Washington Post.

Dr. Amy Chan

Associate Professor of Studio Art at UVA

Amy Chan teaches drawing and foundational courses that cultivate discipline, observation, critique and risk taking in art. Chan is an abstract painter whose work can be found in the collections of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, The Spencer Museum of Art and Capital One.  She has received grants from the Pollock Krasner Foundation and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.  She received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2000 and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2008.

Paige Crichter

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts & Sweetbriar College Art Professor

Paige holds an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and has taught photography at the university and college level since 1996. Primarily a fine art photographer, she also creates editorial and documentary-style work and has exhibited internationally. She has held notable positions including Professor of Photography for Semester at Sea in 2015 and Resident Fellow at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts in 2018/19. Based in Richmond, VA, she maintains a studio where she works in portraiture, still life, traditional darkroom printing, and digital fine art processes. Beyond photography, she earned an RYS 200 in Ashtanga Yoga in 2019 and recently wrote a cookbook released in 2020.

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Virginia Living Photography Awards 2026

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Virginia Living Leadership

John-Lawrence Smith

Publisher, Virginia Living

The idea for Virginia Living came to publisher John-Lawrence Smith in a moment of pure Virginia magic—sitting riverside with his dog Cutty on a perfect June day in 2002, watching the James River flow by. That flash of inspiration became the premiere issue just four months later, and what started as one man’s vision has evolved into Virginia’s most beloved publication, captivating nearly one million readers across the Commonwealth. A North Carolinian by birth and Virginian by choice, John-Lawrence brings the perspective of both insider and admirer to every issue. His education took him from the rolling hills of Woodberry Forest School to the quads of UNC-Chapel Hill, and the dreaming spires of Oxford University—a journey that perfectly prepared him to celebrate Virginia’s unique blend of tradition and innovation.

Madeline Mayhood

Editor-in-Chief, Virginia Living

Madeline Mayhood brings the best of both worlds to Virginia Living‘s editorial team—Big Apple publishing savvy paired with deep Virginia roots. Since joining in 2021, she’s drawn on extensive magazine and book publishing experience first honed in New York before returning home to Richmond. As an 8th-generation Virginian, she writes with the insider’s knowledge that only comes from centuries of family history woven into the Commonwealth’s fabric. When she’s not crafting stories, you’ll find this self-proclaimed plant geek tending her garden, setting sail in distant lands, or getting lost in a good book. She and her husband unwind with their four-legged sidekick Blue at their riverside cottage near the Chesapeake Bay, where the best editorial ideas often arrive with the tide.

Keny Friend

Art Director, Virginia Living

Kenny Friend transforms stories into visual experiences as Virginia Living’s art director. With over 15 years of design expertise spanning freelance projects, retail campaigns, and editorial spreads, he brings a keen eye for compelling visual narratives to every page. Behind the lens, Kenny has directed photography across diverse subjects—from intimate portraits to sweeping landscapes—always seeking that perfect shot that speaks before words do. A 2009 Virginia Commonwealth University graduate in creative advertising, he combines strategic thinking with artistic vision to create designs that don’t just look beautiful, but connect with readers on a deeper level.

Virginia Living Photographers

Adam Ewing

Professional Photographer

Adam Ewing is a photographer based in Richmond, Virginia. After pursuing a degree in Communication Arts at VCU, he opened his studio in 2006 and developed a wide range of advertising and editorial clients all over the US and abroad. He and his wife, Kelley, live in Richmond, Virginia in a mid-century house surrounded by old oak trees and near the James River. 

Sera Petras

Professional Photographer

Sera Petras is a Charlottesville-based luxury wedding and portrait photographer known for her refined and authentic imagery. She discovered photography while studying voice at VCU and went on to earn a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. With over 20 years of experience, she blends film and digital mediums to create timeless, emotionally resonant images. Her work spans fine-art, editorial, and commercial photography, capturing elegant, intimate moments with a natural feel. Inspired by travel, music, and life in the Blue Ridge Mountains, she brings a thoughtful artistry to every project.

Frederick Turko

Professional Photographer

Fred Turko holds a degree in Anthropology from UCLA and originally envisioned a career as a writer before discovering his passion for visual storytelling. After meeting Elliott in Los Angeles in 2011, they formed both a creative partnership and a life together—merging their individual talents in food, photography, and even crossword puzzles. Their collaboration results in striking food and beverage imagery that blends aesthetic flair with thoughtful presentation.

Ad Agency Creative Directors

Aaron Dotson

Co-Founder & Executive Creative Director at Elevation Advertising

Aaron Dotson is Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director of Elevation, a branding, advertising and design firm headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Aaron is an award-winning storyteller who has helped build some of the region’s most recognized brands throughout his 30+ year career. An avid art collector, he spends his non-working time enjoying traveling with his wife C.J. Hawn and their toy fox terrier, Mr. Bixby.

Stephanie Heinatz

Founder & CEO at Consociate Media

Stephanie Heinatz, Founder and CEO of Consociate Media, cut her teeth as a newspaper journalist, working on assignments from her own hometown of Gloucester, Virginia to the remote areas of East Africa to war-torn Iraq. That early work solidified Stephanie’s core belief that stories are the most powerful way to reach people and inspire change. Written stories and visual stories. She brings that same strategy to Consociate Media, where she specializes in working with business owners, legislative initiatives, economic development programs, non-profit organizations, tourism efforts and individuals to strategically plan and execute storytelling across a wide range of new and traditional media.

Kym Ricketts

Creative Director at 5 Points Creative

Kym fuels her career with creativity, turning ideas into award-winning work. With 25 years of agency experience at both small creative shops and large regional firms, she’s earned recognition from The Richmond Show, the American Advertising Awards and the Tellys. She shapes big-picture strategies and sharpens the details that make brands stand out, always adding a spark of fun and surprise. Her portfolio showcases clients in health care, higher education, retail, and defense.