Member Pro and Raw Society Ambassador Rory Doyle won First Place in the Annual Smithsonian Magazine photo contest in the category “American Experience” for his photograph “First to Vote”.

The photograph was taken while on assignment covering the 2022 midterm elections for de Volkskrant, a daily newspaper in Amsterdam. In the photograph, a woman sits in a chair at dawn in Atlanta, Georgia, waiting to vote. Ms. Williams was the first person to show up at the polling site and had arrived before sunrise to ensure she didn’t have to wait long lines to vote as had happened in previous elections in Georgia.

The photograph ended up being featured on CBS Morning News, and Doyle’s inbox was flooded with messages from people who had seen the photograph on social media. 

Doyle’s photograph is a powerful symbol of the importance of the right to vote, and we couldn’t be prouder to have him a part of The Raw Society community.