Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC) awarded Poole resident, Stuart Kerr, with not one but two prizes at its Annual Open Evening.
Stuart, a semi-professional photographer who works for Sunseeker, was acknowledged as a finalist in PHC’s photographic competition in the photography professionals’ category and was presented with £350 worth of Castle Cameras vouchers.
His photo overlooking Poole Harbour at night won the judges vote on the evening and Stuart was also awarded as the overall winner of the Daily Echo-backed competition and walked away with £500.
Stuart’s photo was judged against the three other finalists who attended the Open Evening in the North Lounge of the Poole Ferry Passenger Terminal and were presented with framed portraits of their winning photos.
The competition, which set out to celebrate Poole’s vibrant harbour, has been running in the ‘Have Your Say’ section of the paper for the past four months. Each month a different theme has been used to entice readers to submit their photographs and the four category themes have been water activities, photographs taken by under 21’s, wildlife and photography professionals.
Stuart said: “I was completely shocked when they called out my name as the overall winner of the competition, it was a complete surprise. I noticed the competition running in the paper and I have so many photos of the harbour that I thought I would give it a go.”
Jim Stewart, chief executive of the Poole Harbour Commissioners, says: “The photographic competition has been a huge success. Over the four months we have received more than 200 photos of the harbour, whether it’s been of ferries arriving, windsurfing or kitesurfing, commercial port activity, or the variety of wildlife that inhabits the surrounding islands. It’s been fantastic going through each category and judging all the photos and seeing the diversity of the harbour represented.
“PHC is committed to protecting the special natural features of the harbour, which is the largest in Europe. Its diversity makes it a challenging environment to manage but its future is of utmost importance to everyone.”
To see the four finalist photos from each category please visit: www.facebook.com/PooleHarbourCommissioners.
Picture Caption: L-R Stuart Kerr winner of photography professionals’ category, PHC Chairman, Richard Lacey, Charlotte Miller winner of the under-21 category, Harbour Master, Brian Murphy with Karl Dean's winning photo from the wildlife category and Steve Beard winner of the first category, water activities in Poole Harbour