SANDSTONE

So something really exciting happened the other day.

I woke up to an email that said this….

“Congratulations!

It is my great pleasure to inform you that your work has advanced to the final round of jury voting and has received the title of “Official Selection” in the International Photography Awards 2026.

We look forward to announcing the final winners during the week of August 24. Thank you for your participation, and congratulations on your outstanding work!”

For context I entered my magazine SANDSTONE into the awards a few months ago.

From the stats I’ve been looking into, around 14,000 people enter the awards each year, and earning an “Official Selection” places the work in the top ~15-20% globally (roughly the top 2,500 to 3,000 entries across all disciplines).

When you zoom into my specific categories—Book / Documentary and Book / Self-Published—it gets even more focused. Those subcategories usually average around 200 to 400 entries. This means SANDSTONE made it into the top ~10-15% of book submissions in those categories that the jury selected to advance to the final voting round.

So that feels pretty cool?

Here’s the thing about this magazine. I didn’t create it with the intention of “making a bunch of money” - do I want to be compensated for my work? Absolutely. But really this whole project was a declaration to the world and to myself, that life can be beautiful if you decide to let the good in.

I want to share a little story about how this all came to be….

I was meditating one day and my guides told me to make this magazine. I had spent the spring learning to climb in Moab, and had tons of content that I usually just make blog posts with, but instead this idea came through so clearly - and yes, so divinely that I knew I had to listen. It’s only happened one other time when I created my photography course, and that definitely payed off.

Where am I going with this.

It’s oversimplified forsure, but when you FOLLOW YOUR HEART, things can happen in ways that your little human brain might not be able to figure imagibe.

What if it’s meant to be better than anything you could ever dream of. I kept listening and followed each next step. I didn’t know how the ROI would pay off, but I knew I had to listen, why? Because it felt right. Not the best answer I know, but when I live this way the best things tend to happen. So I entered it into this competition, and now we’re here.

When we live from a heart led place, life starts to happen in ways that exceed our expectations, and in ways that seem to be beyond explanation.

I believe this is how we move with integrity, when our actions match the expression of our heart.