A six-year-old black cat named Oscar found himself the center of attention during Mount Si freshman Sam Egan’s photo shoot,

Egan was drawn to the imagery of Oscar exploring a trellis. When he and a friend started playing with the cat, tempting it over with a stick,  the teen photographer found his shot.

“I liked how the lighting was, how the cat stood out in the picture,” Egan said.

The freshman was one of eight Mount Si High School students who earned state recognition at the 2012 Washington State High School Photography Competition.

About 80 schools entered the contest with judges viewing nearly 4,300 photos earlier this month.

Two Mount Si students’ were judged as select finalists: Senior Jonathan Harrington, for abstract, and freshman Natalie Werner, for color. Less than 1 percent of the total entered per category received this distinction.

Six others received Select honors, which less than 10 percent of the total achieve. The top six places were chosen from those advancing to Select Finalist. Earning select awards were senior Maura Murphy, for her portrait; sophomore Rachel Mallasch, for her landscape; and seniors Alex Pease and Journie Kirdain and freshmen Avery Dahline and Egan for their animal photos.

The eight awards doubled the amount won last year.