The Brian Lehrer Show's 'Best Photo' Contest Winners For 2023

Looking for the 2025 Best Photo submission link? Here it is!

Every year, The Brian Lehrer Show asks you to submit the best photo you took that is sitting on your phone – and every year, you deliver with some truly impressive snaps! 

This year, you submitted over 1,000 photos! Our partners at Photoville, along with a special guest judge, documentary photographer and writer Meryl Meisler, picked out their favorites (check out their 'Top 50' gallery), and then Brian and the team joined in to help select three winners to present their photos on the air.

Brian speaks with Meryl Meisler and Laura Roumanos, executive director and co-founder of Photoville, about the three winning photos, which you can see below. Plus, hear the winning photographers talk about their submissions.

Partner's Note: Photoville will be celebrating it's 13th festival this year with a city-wide celebration in June. Click here to learn more about the festival, as well as this non-profit and their education and public programs.

This Year's Winners:

Alfield Reeves's "Grandma"

While visiting home (Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa) for my father surprise 60th birthday party I got to spend a lot of time with my family, including my grandmother. So while the family was in the kitchen hanging out and enjoying each others company I capture this candid of her just observing.

(Alfield Reeves)

Deborah Seidman's Are you running away from home?

Chelsea, Manhattan NY: Taken in September on a side street of Manhattan. Begs the question of running away, homelessness, hoarding. Which one is this?

(Deborah Seidman)

Karl Wagenführ's Death Defying Squirrel Out Our 12th Floor Window

Hackensack, NJ: One day there was a knock on our balcony door; being as we are on the top (12th) floor of our building, this was odd. Looked out to see a squirrel on our porch trying to get in. It had climbed up our building, balcony to balcony, and was now panicked because it couldn't go any higher, and didn't know how to get down. This photo was snapped as it attempted to climb up from our window to the roof, which it couldn't manage because of the metal flashing to prevent exactly this. I finally had to persuade our panicked guest (with a broom) to go to the corner of the building, where it finally turned around, and climbed down the brickwork all the way to the ground.

(Karl Wagenführ)