15 Nov 2012 | David Pidgeon

‘Celebration of a Nation’ photography award winners announced

Posterscope’s Adam Cherry has been announced as this year’s winner of the ‘Celebration of a Nation‘ photography award.

Launched for the first time by Yahoo!, Flickr and MediaTel, the competition celebrated the great British summer and was held Wednesday night at a packed gallery in Covent Garden’s INC Space.

Open to amateur photographers working in the media industry, the top twenty photographs on show captured Great Britain during a momentous year of Diamond Jubilee parties, days at the beach and Olympic triumphs.

The competition had six categories, including Culture, Food, Heritage and Sport – with all the entries now showcased on Flickr, the largest photo sharing website in the world.

Speaking about the winning shot, Duncan George, Chairman of Judges, said: “Adam Cherry’s winning submission of two the old ladies had echoes of Martin Parr with this wonderfully observed shot. The matching white hair, Union Jacks and intense looks draw the viewer into the scene and impart a sense of expectation. A slice of Diamond Jubilee in 2D, it fitted the overall competition theme perfectly.”

Individual category winners included Dan Redrup, a freelance film colourist, for the Outdoor category, Maxus’s Joe Williams for the Heritage category and Lucy Antoniou of Channel 4 for Food.

George also noted how impressed he was by the overall enthusiasm of the entrants and sheer range of work submitted. “The judges felt that the spirit and theme of the competition was really entered into,” he said. “Taking into account that this was a niche competition only open to members of the media industry, there were more than enough gems to short-list and ultimately select winners from.”

Judge Hannah J Taylor added: “There was no more perfect year in Britain to launch the ‘Celebration of a Nation’. With so many visually stimulating events to be a part of it was a great opportunity for enthusiastic image makers to take to the streets.

“I was pleased to see the humour and diverse human observations that found its way into the entries and I hope the competition goes from strength to strength.”

The winning shots were all up for sale with proceeds donated to seven-year-old Bobby who suffers from Sanfilippo (MPS) – a condition that gradually breaks down a child’s physical and mental abilities and causes premature death. For more details click here.