2026 Still Photography Contest Judges
Kathy M Helgeson is a freelance photojournalist based on Long Island. Before moving to New York, she spent 14 years in higher education as the lead visual storyteller at Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls.
Earlier in her career, she worked for 16 years as a staff photojournalist at The Tampa Tribune, The Augusta Chronicle, and The Winter Haven News Chief. She has also freelanced for Newsday, the Minnesota Star Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and Minnesota Public Radio.
Outside of journalism, Helgeson enjoys pottery, music, and spending time with her husband, their two sons, and their dog, Zelda.
Corinne Perkins is the North America Editor for ReutersPictures, where she leads visual news coverage across the United States and Canada. Based in New York, she oversees teams of photographers and editors producing award-winning photojournalism on major global and regional stories.
Perkins joined Reuters in 2000 as a freelance editorial assistant during the Sydney Olympic Games and became a full-time member of the organization in 2005 as editor-in-charge of the Singapore global pictures desk. She later served as online visuals editor in Toronto before moving to New York to lead Reuters’ North American photography coverage.
Originally from Mount Isa, Australia, Perkins has spent more than two decades working in international visual journalism and helping shape the way Reuters presents photography across digital and social platforms.
Sandra M. Stevenson is an award-winning writer, visual editor, and curator who recently joined Education Week as Managing Editor of Visual and Immersive Experiences.
Before joining Education Week, Stevenson served as Deputy Director of Photography at The Washington Post, where she managed a team of picture editors covering International, Climate, and Health + Science. Previously, she was Associate Deputy Director of Photography at CNN, overseeing picture editors responsible for curating the home screen, editing stories and newsletters, and producing special projects.
Earlier in her career, Stevenson worked as an Assistant Editor at The New York Times, where she supervised digital photo editors on the news desk and contributed visual content to Race/Related and Gender. She also helped produce major editorial projects including Overlooked and This Is 18.
Stevenson earned a B.A. in English from Syracuse University and continued her studies in audio and visual media at Université Toulouse in Toulouse, France.