The February issue of Billiards Digest is always one of my favorites. When you work in a deadline-oriented field, you never really have time to look back at what you’ve done. You have to keep your eyes trained ahead because a deadline is always looming.

The annual BD Awards and Player of the Year selections offer a great chance to sift back through the year and remind readers (and yourself) of the great and not-so-great people, events and news that dominated the year’s headlines.

The breakneck pace with which news travels and the machine-gun speed with which topics come and go on social media makes it easy to lose track of the moments that should stick with you the entire year. Then you look back at events and topics and realize that stories that feel a decade old took place just a few months earlier.

For instance, do you remember that it was just one year ago that record-driven Jayson Shaw authored a jaw-dropping straight pool run of 832 balls? Then again, nothing would make me forget watching defending champion Fedor Gorst and soon-to-be-elected Billiard Congress of America Hall of Famer Carlo Biado battle with incredible stamina and precision through 28 games in the World Pool Championship final in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with a $250,000 top prize hanging in the balance. Biado’s run out from the break on the hill was a study in focus and nerve.

For me, the top storylines revolved more around new champions and new faces. It’s always refreshing to see players who have paid their dues but had yet to be rewarded finally get rewarded. The likeable and workmanlike Pijus Labutis was one such story. The 28-year-old Lithuanian had been a staple in events in Europe and the U.S. but didn’t break through until the Hanoi Open in 2025.

And there are always out-of-nowhere introductions, and in 2025 there were plenty. High spirited Finn Arseni Sevastyanov, his long blond hair pinned up in a headband and a left-handed game that could be comfortable with 10-second shot clocks, stunned Shane Van Boening in the U.S. Open and then reached the title match at the Philippines Open.

Speaking of the Philippines, a pair of high-profile youngsters made big news in 2025, with 18-year-old A.J. Manas justifying his Reyes Cup selection for Team Asia with the event’s MVP award. Not to be outdone, outrageous 16-year-old money player Jaybee Sucal found himself goaded into entering the Philippines Open, where he drew throngs of fans and curiosity seekers and pushed eventual winner David Alcaide to the deciding game.

The BD Awards also gives us an opportunity to throw props on a branch of journalism that is too often taken for granted. As a man of words (far too many, I know) I have immense appreciation for the tireless photographers who cover the events and capture moments that will forever live on.

Photographs are a universal language. They speak to everyone without ever uttering a word. They document history, convey emotions, allow us to connect with the world. They can be very personal, they can challenge perceptions, and they can move us. They are every bit the storyteller that a writer is.

Maintaining high standards for Billiards Digest over the years has been an obsession with me. And nothing makes a print publication stand out like great photography. Like the great writers I’ve had the privilege to work with over the years, the artistically and technically gifted photographers whose images have graced these pages are equally important to me. Like writers, photographers are not rewarded financially at a level that even approximates their talent. Yet they’re always there in and around the arena, preserving history and creating unforgettable images for the sole reason that they love what they do.

That’s why over the past few years we’ve devoted pages in the annual BD Awards to the Photos of the Year. We asked our favorite photographers to submit their favorite images from the past year and to share what it was about those images that resonated with them.

The great thing about these photographers is that they are constants at pool events. And because of that, they develop friendships and working relationships, and that familiarity gives them unique access into the souls of their subjects. Photographers like Erwin Dionisio, who over the past half dozen years has traveled the globe covering the sport and its players. And Matt Porinsky, whose dramatic shots have had no small impact on the visibility of Predator’s Pro Billiard Series. The same with Taka Wu, who followed in the sizable footsteps of J.P. Parmentier (who, himself, followed in the equally large footsteps of Laurence Lustig) in covering Matchroom events and the World Nineball Tour. And Taiwan’s Alison Chang, who is a valuable resource in covering events in Asia and is treated like a sister by players everywhere.

One click at a time, these four have made legends of players and captured history in single shots. Billiards Digest has been honored to have had cover images from each.

They make the magazine look better. They make me look better. (Okay, maybe not.) And don’t underestimate how much better they make the sport and its stars look.