I've been doing this now since 2002, and since I'm the only one allowed to enter I can make up the rules as I go along. That said, this year was difficult to select a POY because two of my favorite photos posted in 2018 were actually trailcam images that were snapped in 2017 but not retrieved until later, the Montana Moose and the Trailcam Inferno. And although I did select a trailcam images as POY in 2014, I have this feeling I should select something where I actually tripped the shutter.

With that preamble, the 2018 POY is an eagle catching a fish in Illinois. This is the fourth time an eagle has been the subject of POY, but the first since 2010.

Mississippi River Eagle