For those of you that only read the Corner Blog, but don’t actively participate in the forums much (what’s up with that - register already!), you may not know what an “ohenry” is (or you may be wondering why we’re having a celebration for a chocolate bar). Those of you that are active in the PhotographyCorner forums know that ohenry is one of the most helpful, popular, contributing members of the Corner. For the past three+ years, ohenry (also known by his real name, Carl) has been faithfully running the Premiere Projects for Premiere Members. While there are numerous benefits to Premiere Membership, the Premiere Projects are always noted as the “big draw,” and now, after several years, Carl is passing the torch.

A new era of Premiere Projects is being ushered in around the Corner, but before we introduce the new face of the Premiere Projects, we also want to take the time to recognize Carl for the extraordinary job he’s done with the Premiere Projects and for PhotographyCorner as a whole. Without Carl, the Premiere Projects never would have even existed, and from them, many-a-photographer has learned and grown as a photographer through the Premiere Projects. As one fellow Cornerite put it: “[Carl’s] presence, and these projects, has a lot to do with how involved I’ve become on this site.” I think that rings true for many of the regulars around the Corner.

We’ll be announcing the upcoming changes to the Premiere Projects in the next couple of days (and Carl has stated that he’ll hang around and help with the new Premiere Projects along during the transition process), but for right now, we want to celebrate Carl and his contributions to PhotographyCorner. We’re going to do this in two ways.

First, we’d like to award Carl with the “Special Contributor Award.” This award was originally created by the community a couple of years ago to recognize my work for creating and running the Corner. The award description reads as follows: “This award is given for extremely dedicated work towards the growth and success of PhotographyCorner.” I don’t think there’s a more appropriate recipient for this award than Carl. So Carl, on behalf of the entire community, we award you with the PhotographyCorner Special Contribution Award!! Make sure to drop by the comments to congratulate and thank Carl!

In addition to the Special Contribution Award, and to make this more of a community celebration, on behalf of Carl, we’re offering a half-price special on Lifetime Premiere Memberships for 1 week! You heard me right. HALF PRICE!! What better way to celebrate Carl’s contributions than by becoming a Premiere Member and participating the Premiere Projects??! To sign up to become a Premiere Member, either click here to go straight to the Paid Subscriptions section of the Corner, or go to your User CP in the forum, and scroll down to Paid Subscriptions. To find out more about the other benefits of Premiere Membership, check out http://www.photographycorner.com/premiere-membership. The special “ohenry Premiere Membership pricing” is only good until Monday, October 20th, 2008, so if you’re going to take advantage of the special pricing, make sure to do it before then!

In the meantime, make sure to drop by the comments thread for this post to congratulate and thank Carl for all that he’s done to make the Corner an awesome place, and specifically for all the hard work he’s done in creating and running the Premiere Projects!!