BC3 student’s photo first submission to make honor society anthology since 2015
A Butler Senior High School student approached a backlit puddle, lay prostrate atop the cobblestone path that formed its banks and pressed the shutter-release button.
“I really enjoyed how the light reflected off the water,” said Anna Wright, of Fenelton.
She’d placed second in the 2023 Pennsylvania Resource Council’s Gene Capaldi Lens on Litter Photo Contest, and third place in 2024.
Her image of a butterfly won honorable mention at Butler High’s Fine Arts and Beyond Showcase in 2025.
After graduating from Butler High in 2025, Wright enrolled at Butler County Community College, where she is a student in an introduction to digital photography course at BC3’ Cranberry Township campus, instructed by professional photographer Macey Wright.
“From the first time I meet with students and look at their work,” said Macey Wright, who has no relation to Anna. “I can tell right away whether or not they have the eye for photography.”
Anna Wright’s photograph taken at the Evans City Pumpkinfest made the Experience Butler County Pennsylvania 2026 Destination Guide.
“Anna,” Macey Wright said, “has the eye.”
Her interest began when taking her first photography/graphic design course as a freshman at Butler High, where she realized she loved a photograph’s ability “to communicate a message without any words,” she said.
“It’s important because sometimes I think that maybe there wouldn’t be words to correctly capture an event or an emotion or something that happened. A photograph has a unique ability to capture that feeling in ways that words cannot.”
Wright has made herself well-acquainted with the physical aspects of photography also. In addition to lying prostrate to capture images, Wright scales fences and climbs boulders.
“Whatever it is,” she said. “Whenever I am out in nature and I want to get a specific angle or a specific lighting for a photo, I’ll just climb.”
It had just rained in an outdoor area of the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden in Pittsburgh in December 2024 when Wright noticed a 12-inch-wide by 18-inch-long puddle forming near a Christmas tree.
“I like to be at the level of my subject when I take photos,” Wright said. “So, I just laid on the path and put my camera on the ground. I was at the same level with the image.”
She pressed the shutter-release button repeatedly.
“I like taking photos that definitely require a little bit more thought,” Wright said, “but I think they definitely pay off in the end because they’re just unique and different to look at.”
Students submitted 3,237 literary and visual arts works for consideration in the 2027 edition of Nota Bene, “making the selection process both a privilege,” Edwards said, “and a profound challenge.”
More than two dozen judges nationwide made first- and second-round decisions, Edwards said. A six-member editorial board the final selections of 25 literary and 26 visual arts works.
That 1.57% of students’ submissions were chosen, Edwards said, “is a testament to the rigorous standards and immense pride associated with this anthology.”
Wright learned Oct. 23 that her photograph was selected for publication in a 2027 edition of Nota Bene that will also feature essays, short stories, a script, paintings and drawings.
“I was excited,” she said, “and honestly surprised. I know that college students enter all types of writing and all kinds of art.”
The 2027 edition of Nota Bene will be published online in late November or early December, Edwards said.
Bill Foley is coordinator of news and media content at Butler County Community College.
