Budding photographers snap up top prize

A team of amateur photographers from Birches Head High School have won first prize in the Rotary International Great Britain and Ireland’s (RIBI) Young Photographers competition. The winning portfolio came from a group of year nine and ten pupils who impressed the judges with their creativity and composition skills. 

Michael Johnson (15), Erkan Kose (15), Jake Lockett (16), Emily Haynes (16) and Lenena Gilbert (15), submitted their individual creations as part of a group portfolio. They took home the top prize for the Senior Category, age 14-17, in a ceremony that took place at the City of Stoke-On-Trent Sixth Form College.

RIBI the organizer of the Young Photographers competition is the association of Rotary clubs in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, comprising 53,000 members. Rotary International forms a global network of business, professional and community leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve communities locally and around the world.

Working in conjunction with teacher Daniel Jackson, the group of five students first learned the basics of photography and how to process their images.

"We took our inspiration from the mundane and simple, day to day objects around us," explained Michael Johnson, a year nine student at Birches Head High School. "We wanted to show that even ordinary things can be photographed beautifully if light, colour and the right angle is used," he finished.

The grand prize was £50 of Wimberley’s gift vouchers, which were used to buy arts and photography supplies.

“This competition has provided students with a fantastic opportunity to gain valuable artistic skills that may become more than a hobby in time,” said teacher Daniel Jackson after the event. “Photography competitions are ideal for those creative pupils that are also interested in technology. Mentoring the group and following their progress was an inspiring journey and, we'll definitely include photography classes in next year's curriculum.”