Release Date: 8 May 2006
** EMBARGO UNTIL 18 MAY 2006 **
Arts Institute Bournemouth student Clemency Parsons is the winner of this year's Fujifilm Student Awards. She wins £1,000 cash and the title Fujifilm Student Photographer of the Year 2006. The theme for this year was 'The Best of British'.
Clemency's amusing image entitled "Two Yorkie's, 6 Hadrian Close" caught the eye of all the judges, although the competition was close fought.
She was delighted to learn of her win: "This means everything to me; it's confirmation that I must be doing something right! This is one shot of a whole series for my final project which I've called 'These Four Walls' ." She hopes to publish a book on the subject.
Twenty six year old Clemency is in her final year at college and hopes to freelance as an editorial documentary photographer. She will spend her prize money on a printer and a scanner.
Photographer Dean Chalkley, photographic retoucher Glen Taylor from Taylor James and design guru Wayne Hemingway judged nearly 1,000 entries for this year's Awards. Jerry Deeney of Fujifilm Professional, who organised the competition, said: "We were looking for one image that summed up typical British life. Students could submit as many images as they liked online, the judges then shortlisted 20 which were then judged as hard copy prints. All entries were shot on Fujifilm Professional film."
Best known for his tremendously successful Red or Dead brand, Wayne Hemingway said: "the winning image made me smile; it represents a working class culture that is always worth documenting."
Of the judging Dean commented: "Most of the shortlisted images showed a great sense of British humour and multiculturalism. It's worth noting that some students didn't stick to the brief, and some great pictures didn't get through for that reason."
Glen added: "I found it a lot harder to judge than last year, we had a lot of very clichéd images entered this time, but we needed to select pictures that told a deeper story; all the shortlisted ones did that. The winning image reminds me of my auntie or nan. It provokes and tells a story in such a subtle way. I liked the story behind the image."
Each of the entrants were invited to provide accompanying text for their submissions and Clemency's was: "This image is from a project based on the last remaining post-war prefabs in England, almost all of which are due to be demolished in the near future. The prefabs are an extremely important part of British heritage and social culture, representing a crucial time in our history and the generation that lived through it. Mrs Chivers has lived in her prefab for 57 years and has always had dogs. Following the traumatic death of her Yorkie, she now keeps only a tortoise in the shed."
Each of the shortlisted Merit winners receive £50 worth of Fujifilm Professional film. The college that submitted the most entries, University College Falmouth, also won a Fujifilm Professional refrigerator containing £500 worth of Fujifilm Professional film.
The winning images can be viewed at www.fujifilmstudentawards.co.uk Entry for next year's Awards opens in October 2006. For further information on the Fujifilm Student Awards, please contact Jerry Deeney at Fujifilm Professional on 0207 7465 5819 or email jdeeney@fuji.co.uk
ENDS
** EMBARGO UNTIL 18 MAY 2006 **
For editors only: Clemency can be contacted on 07782 113463.
View the Merit winners at www.fujifilmstudentawards.co.uk
Should you require high-res versions of any of the Merit images, please call Pete or James at WPS Media on 01904 427777.
* Note: this news release is issued electronically and will not be duplicated with a posted copy
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Fuji Photo Film (UK) Ltd
Fujifilm House, 125 Finchley Road, London NW3 6HY
Tel: 020 7586 5900
E-mail: jdeeney@fuji.co.uk
http://www.fujifilm.co.uk/professional
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Written and distributed by WPS Media
Tel. 01904 427777