“I’m honored to win the cold shot challenge. There are so many talented to surfers and photographers in NY and NJ. Very thankful to NYSEA for putting on such a great contest !” Mike Gleason

“Considering I didn’t even walk up to stand with the other finalists as I thought I had no chance, this was a huge surprise to me. I didn’t even think my photo would make it through the first round of the competition and when it did I truly didn’t think I would even place and wanted to watch as the other finalists and winner were announced from the audience and participate that way. I was excited to see everyone else up there and totally impressed by their work. Everything looked so good on aluminum and there were a few standouts to me walking through the room. The photo I took was the 10 year anniversary of shooting the original which ran in Surfing Magazine in 2006. I hadn’t capture the same angle in 10 years and found myself back up on the roof shooting in the pouring cold rain alone the same as I did back in 2006. The jury that judged the photographs were among the most prestigious in the surf world whether they be East Coast surfing legends or masters of photography so this was truly a sweet feeling to have my work looked at and then voted on by those people. It’s always a surge of confidence when you are recognized for the hard work you put in and to have won this award felt the same. Thank you to everyone who voted for my work and to the judges for their support. I can’t wait to be a part of this next time this runs and see everyones amazing work! This was an amazing idea that really came together that night at the awards show. Top notch stuff NYSEA!”   Matt Clark