The Parks Trust Announces Winners of 2016 Photography Competition

By Sarah Featley

The Parks Trust, the self-funding charity that cares for Milton Keynes’ parks and green spaces, is pleased to announce the winners of its 2016 Photography Competition.

With 665 photographs entered by 230 people from across the city, the contest was tougher than ever before. Entries were made into three categories in adult and youth age groups; parklife, wildlife and landscape; with a winner and finalist chosen for each one. Of these three winners, an overall winner was then chosen from both the adult and youth sections.

Peter Watson was the overall adult winner, chosen for his striking winter image of Old Stumpy at Ouzel Valley Park, while Gracie Gardner’s stunning black and white close up of a swan clinched the overall youth winner title. Peter, as overall winner, was presented with his certificate by David Foster, Chief Executive of The Parks Trust, at the charity’s headquarters in Campbell Park,

The competition shortlist was whittled down by an expert panel of judges including Chairman of the New City Photography Society, Stephen Miller and Secretary, Don Byatt, and The Parks Trust’s Head of Community Engagement Briony Fox.

Briony commented: “We were hugely impressed by the quality of the photos submitted this year – people in Milton Keynes certainly know their bokeh from their contre-jour! It was difficult to narrow down the entries but we were blown away by Peter’s and Gracie’s in particular; they really are very special.

“We loved looking through people’s favourite images of their parks, and the competition truly demonstrated how lucky we are to have such a vast array of landscapes and habitats in Milton Keynes. We hope this will encourage even more people to visit the city’s green spaces, which are beautiful and inspiring all year round.”

The full list of winners for The Parks Trust’s 2016 Photography Competition is as follows:

Overall Adult Winner	Peter Watson (Old Stumpy at Ouzel Valley Park)
Adult Landscape category winner	Peter Watson (Old Stumpy at Ouzel Valley Park)
Adult Parklife category winner	Charlotte Green (Willen Lake)
Adult Wildlife category winner	Jo Angell (Willen Lake)
Overall Youth winner	Gracie Gardner (close up of swan)
Youth Landscape category winner	Sophie Bayliss (Wolverton Mill)
Youth Parklife category winner	Roslyn Moorhouse (Tree Cathedral)
Youth Wildlife category winner	Gracie Gardner (close up of swan)

For more information please visit www.theparkstrust.com