Image courtesy of Andrew Patteson

Teaching Award

Established in 1998, the annual Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award honors a high school, college, or postgraduate teacher’s dedication and commitment to their students and the photographic field. Educators in all areas of photographic teaching are eligible, including but not limited to fine art, documentary, history and criticism. Educators must be nominated by their student(s) or colleague(s) to be considered.

EDUCATORS MUST POSSESS • A genuine passion for teaching, an ability to excite students to learn, respect for students as individuals and an enduring artistic curiosity.

AWARD PACKAGE
• $5,000 USD
• Professional Development Seminars access

2026 Recipient & 2027 Juror

Image courtesy of Andrew Patteson

Andrew Patteson
Director of Arts & Photography Teacher • Waterford School • Sandy, UT • andrew-patteson.com

SEGMENT FROM THE JUROR’S STATEMENT
What became clear in reviewing Andrew Patteson’s (“Patty,” as his students and alumni fondly call him) nominations is not a single defining moment but a pattern that repeats across students with different backgrounds, different levels of confidence, and different expectations of what a classroom might offer them. His teaching doesn’t rely on spectacle or intensity; instead, it builds through consistency, attention, and a willingness to stay engaged with students beyond the point where most courses end.

Students describe someone who pays close attention to how they work and where they hesitate. That awareness translates into a kind of teaching that feels calibrated rather than imposed. He pushes, but not blindly. He recognizes when a student needs structure and when they need space, and that distinction shows up repeatedly in the letters. There is a clear sense that students are not being moved through a system; they are being worked with as individuals developing at different speeds.

What stands out most is how often students reference time, projects that continue after the semester, conversations that carry forward, and feedback that stays with them long enough to affect future decisions. His influence doesn’t peak during critique or at the end of a course; it accumulates over time. That accumulation is what gives his teaching weight.

There is also a strong connection between his own engagement with photography and how he teaches it. Students are not only learning how to make work; they are learning how to stay in it, question it, and keep it moving when it stalls. That kind of curiosity is not presented as something separate from teaching; it is embedded in it.

Taken together, the nominations describe an educator who doesn’t position himself at the center of the classroom, but whose presence is felt in how students begin to guide their own work more independently. The impact is not always immediate, but it is sustained, and that persistence remains what ultimately defines it.

— Eric T. Kunsman • Photographer, Book Artist, & Assistant Professor, Visual Communications Studies Department, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

FROM THE NOMINATIONS –

“He is not only a great teacher but simply a great person. He continues to connect with students after graduation and takes time out of his holiday breaks to open up the darkroom for alumni to utilize and meet up with one another. He fosters community in a genuine and meaningful way. My fondest memories of high school are the hours I spent in the darkroom and I truly can’t imagine a more deserving individual for this award than Andrew Patteson.”

“He brings so much presence and care to every single project, student, and photograph that he looks at. Always asking a deeper question or holding silence when needed.”

“He would push us to try new things and keep learning and improving. He would be a calm presence when we needed to vent. It's no surprise students spent many many hours in the welcoming environment of the photography studio that he curated.”

“A hushed rapture is perhaps the best way to describe the atmosphere of Andrew’s classroom. Soft spoken and thoughtful with his words, he guides his class through with his deep passion for photography, good light, and the act of seeing.”

Previous Recipients

  • 2025 • Eric T. Kunsman

    Photographer, Book Artist, & Assistant Professor, Visual Communications Studies Department, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) - Rochester, New York, USA

  • 2024 • Kathleen Sanker

    Artist, Photographer, and Professor of Art, St. Charles Community College – St. Louis, Missouri, USA

  • 2023 • Alanna Styer

    Documentary Artist, Educator, Activist, Education Research Fellow, Photographer’s Green Book, and Program Manager, Media Arts Education and Mentoring, Venice Arts – Los Angeles, California, USA

  • 2022 • Uche Okpa-Iroha

    Visual Artist, Art and Culture Producer, Art Educator, Independent Curator, Mentor, and Founder and Director, The Nlele Institute – Lagos, Nigeria

  • 2021 • Peter Brown

    Photographer and Instructor, Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, Rice University – Houston, Texas, USA

  • 2020 • Frank Lopez

    Photographer and Teacher, Greenhill School – Addison, Texas, USA

  • 2019 • Tony Chirinos

    Artist, Photographer, and Associate Senior Professor of Photography, Miami Dade College – Miami, Florida, USA

  • 2017 • Cig Harvey

    Maine Media College, Anderson Ranch, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops – Maine, USA

  • 2015 • Joe Johnson

    Head of Photography Department, University of Missouri, Lecturer at Carnegie Mellon, Indiana University, MassArt, Rhode Island College, DeCordova Museum, and the Beach Museum – Missouri, USA

  • 2014 • Aline Smithson

    CENTER Workshop Instructor, Fine Art Department Instructor, Los Angeles Center of Photography – Los Angeles, California, USA

  • 2013 • Jessamyn Lovell

    Art Department Senior Lecturer, University of New Mexico – Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

  • 2012 • Stephan Hillenbrand

    Associate Professor, University of Houston – Houston, Texas, USA

  • 2011 • Kerry Skarbakka

    Syracuse University – Syracuse, New York, USA

  • 2010 • Sean Kernan

    Savannah College of Art and Design, Maine Photo Workshops, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops and the Art Center – Pasadena, Connecticut, USA

  • 2009 • Archy Baker LaSalle

    Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School – Massachusetts, USA

  • 2008 • Patrick Hebert

    Instructor, Art Center College of Design, CA, and Associate Director of Education, AIDS Project – Los Angeles, California, USA

  • 2007 • Joan Dooley

    Bell School of Humanities Academy – Los Angeles, California, USA

  • 2006 • John Weiss

    Professor of Art, University of Delaware – Newark, Delaware, USA

  • 2005 • Rose Marasco

    Professor of Art, University of Southern Maine – Portland, Maine, USA

  • 2004 • Lauren Shaw

    Associate Professor, Emerson College – Boston, Massachusetts, USA

  • 2003 • Susan Kae Grant

    Professor of Photography, Texas Women’s University – Denton, Texas, USA

  • 2002 • Don Gregorio Anton

    Humboldt State University – Arcata, California, USA

  • 2001 • Joleen Mahoney Roe

    Bethlehem Central High School – Delmar, New York, USA

  • 2000 • Catherine Angel

    Associate Professor, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

  • 1998 • Eddie Soloway

    Instructor, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, National Geographic Presenter – Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Supporter

Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, the Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award, provides recognition and financial support to a photographic educator annually.

Thank you to all of those who helped to recognize unsung heroes of photographic education by nominating to the Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award.