This year's winner of the Patron Saint Award is Joan Dooley, a photography teacher at Bell High School Humanitas Academy in Los Angeles. The teaching award recognizes a high school, college or postgraduate-level educator for their passion for teaching photography.
Other notable candidates from the western United States included: Paul Adams, Brigham Young University; Sky Bergman, California Polytechnic State University; Eliot Crowley-Brooks, Institute of Photography; James Hajicek, Arizona State University; Bruce Hucko, Grand County High School; Norman Mauskopf, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops; John Priola, San Francisco Art Institute and California College of Arts and Crafts; Marcia Reifman, Santa Fe Community College; Josh Schacter, Catalina Magnet High School and International Rescue Committee; and Michael Webb, Monte del Sol Charter School.