By NICOLE VALICEK
A GROUP of talented young photographers have won new cameras at the Pixel8 Photo Competition awards ceremony on Friday night.
The competition, for young people aged between 12 and 18, attrracted 90 entrants and 257 photos, an increase on the previous year that had 74 entrants and 173 photos.
The Community Harmony award was won by Britteny Banks, and highly commended went to Helen Abdou. The Community Wellbeing category was won by Jesse Wiederstein, with highly commended going to Lilli Murphy, and the Creativity category was won by Jesse Johnstone and highly commended to Mia Burgess.
Hobsons Bay Police Inspector Richard Paterson said there was a wealth of talented young people in Hobsons Bay, and the competition was about using their talents, through photography to promote the positive aspects of the community.
“I see Pixel8 as an excellent opportunity for young people in Hobsons Bay to view their community through a camera lens and to gain an appreciation of the great place in which we live and work,” he said.
“This competition is about capturing these fantastic images and challenging young people to showcase how they see our community.”
The Community Wellbeing category winner Jesse Wiederstein said it was his first time entering the competition and he looked forward to doing it again next year.
“It’s fun, you can express yourself in different ways,” he said.
Hobsons Bay City Council mayor Angela Altair said the work produced by the youth in the city “makes us proud to be part of the community”.
The three main prize winners each received a Canon EOS 1100DTKB 12.1MP SLR digital camera with twin lens kit, memory card and camera bag, and the highly commended award winners will receive a Panasonic Lumix TZ30 digital camera with memory card and carry pouch.
Williamstown High School was the school with the greatest number of entrants and received a $500 prize to spend on arts or photographic materials for the school.
The project is supported by Star and other organisations and is a joint project with Victoria Police and Hobsons Bay City Council.
The competition will re-open in March 2014.
