We are very excited to announce the winner and runners-up of the Newport Minster “Church at the Heart of the Island” photographic competition. Out of the 261 photos submitted, in the 6 week competition, the judges had a very difficult task to select the winning entry.

Photographers both young and old were invited to get their cameras out to capture the essence of the Minster formerly St Thomas’ Newport.  First place was awarded to Nick Kidd with his stunning sunset behind the minster “Evensong“, with runners-up Roger East, member of the Isle of Wight Digital Imaging Group, providing “Another Fine Day In Newport” and Vanessa Harris with her image “In the distance“.  All of the 50 shortlisted entries will be displayed at a summer long photographic exhibition within the Minster and are available now for viewing in the IWPOY Galleries.

The overall winning photographer will be featured in the Minster Campaign promotional materials and receive a framed print of their winning image. The winner and runners-up will be presented with their prizes at the annual Isle of Wight Photographer of the Year Awards ceremony that will take place at the Quay Arts on 21st November 2009.

We would like to thank all who have helped celebrate “The Church at the Heart of the Island” – receiving from photographers across the Island images that reflected the many roles and visions of Newport Minster.

Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to all who submitted entries. The Friends of Newport Minster would also like to thank all who participated and for the excellent quality and wide range of subjects submitted and would like to assure everyone that due to the excellent standard of work submitted they are sure that there is going to be a superb exhibition throughout the summer months.

Today Angel Radio the Island’s first community radio station goes photo crazy, the programme schedule today is all about photography with a little pre 1959 music thrown in.

Angel Radio Presenter Ian Mitchell talks about photography and interviews Isle of Wight Photographer of the Year organiser Gary Early  on all aspects of the Islands Annual Photographic Competition. 

Continue Reading »

A special thank you is due  to Chris Packham for agreeing to be a judge for the 2009 IWPOY and ‘Go Wild on Wight’ competitions. We are very excited to have Chris onboard  and know that his knowledge and skills as a photographer will be a great asset.

Chris was born in Southampton in 1961 and as soon as he was crawling around suburbia Ladybirds were being desiccated in matchboxes and tadpoles tortured in jam jars. Husbandry skills improved and the menagerie expanded to large collections of reptiles (inside) and birds of prey, foxes, badgers, squirrels etc (generally outside). A precocious young scientist, swot and nerd in training he studied Kestrels, Shrews and Badgers in his teens and undergraduate days at the Zoology department of Southampton University. He also embraced Punk Rock and played in a band and the DIY ethos and determination to never take ‘no’ for an answer are forcefully retained. Continue Reading »

We are very pleased to be able to announce the judges for this year’s ‘Church at the Heart of the Island’ competition. Two of the judges Jennifer and Chris have judged the IWPOY in previous years and they are well aware of the difficult task ahead. We would also like to welcome Rodney onboard as the representative of the ‘Friends of the Minster’ and one of the main supporters of this competition. Continue Reading »