Teresa Kirby Smith likes to reach for the stars and she caught one when she won the prestigious $10,000 Charman Prize this evening.Mrs Smith, known for her night photography work, was flabbergasted when her name was called as the winner in a packed Masterworks Museum on Friday evening. She won with her photograph Analog Gombey Goes Digital.“I don’t know what I am going to do with the prize money,” said Mrs Smith after she collected her prize. “They called me earlier and said I was going to win something and they wanted me to show up.”Mrs Smith and her husband Gary have only been living in Bermuda for about two years. They also lived in Bermuda for five years previously in the 1980s. Although she has only been here a short time she has quickly made a name for herself. Last year she won $2,500 as a finalist in the Charman competition for use of materials. Her work was also featured in the 2012 Biennial at the Bermuda National Gallery.She has lived in New York, London and New Mexico and she has had numerous exhibitions in these places. She is known for her night photography and time exposure work. She uses both a “behemoth” Rolleiflex 2.25 black and white for film photography and a Canon 5D Mark II for digital work.”She was inspired to do a series on Bermuda Gombeys after seeing a display of Gombey hats and costumes.“The photos were time exposures and I did them inside,” she said. “I love the Gombey lure. I collect folk art. When we lived out in New Mexico there was so much folk art and it was very spiritual. I feel like the dance is very intense.”She was born in Lima, Peru. Her father was from Chile and her mother was American. She was born and raised in South America.“The most interesting thing I have photographed is the stars,” she said. “I always wanted to be an astronaut. The stars blow me away. I love living here with the sky. We live next to a golf course and there is no light pollution. When you are out there, you are out there with the ocean beside you. It is so organic and natural.”John Charman, benefactor of the competition, said as he presented her with her prize: “In our sixth year of the Charman Prize, my appreciation for Bermuda’s artistic talent is even more heightened. The quality of this year’s entries is extraordinary. In our wonderfully creative community it is vital to have an exhibition that can draw from all our senses. The Charman Prize exemplifies Masterworks’ vision, as these artists dynamically continue to create Bermuda’s visual history.”Masterworks had 103 entries this year, the greatest number of entries ever for the competition.Sharon Wilson won the new Masterworks Collection Prize. Her work was chosen and purchased by the Masterworks Collections Committee to remain in the Bermudiana Collection.Four prizes of $2,500 were also awarded for artworks that were outstanding examples of the judging criteria. These winners were Vaughan Evans, Sharon Wilson, Jüliz Ritchie, and Dany Pen.Twelve honourable-mention prizes of $100 were also awarded to the artists that embodied strong elements of each of the four criteria. These included Samantha Lee Botelho, Zoe Dyson, Janet Wingate, Frank Dublin, Carol Gracie, Scott King, Jacqueline Alma, Antoine Hunt, Simon Moore, James Cooper, Alice Coutet, and Rhona Emmerson.