Planning Photo Competition Winners Announced

Eight young people from across the Highlands have won prizes for their photographs entered into The Highland Council’s “Keep Us in the Picture” competition. The competition was organised by the Council’s Planning and Development Service as part of a wider move to get young people actively involved in planning for their future.

The quality of the entered photographs has been high with the subject matter ranging from historic buildings and beautiful landscapes to badly kept tennis courts and public open space. In each of the 4 categories, the top two entries were selected.

Category 1 which asked young people to take photographs of what they liked where they lived was won by Olivia Raine from Strathdearn Primary  School for a scenic landscape photo and Connor Simpson from Keiss Primary in Caithness.

The “What I don’t like about where I live” category was jointly awarded to Emma Houston from Munlochy for a photo showing litter and Arron Vass from Inverness for a cleverly composed photo of the city, featuring graffiti on a wall.

Emma also had one of her other photos selected for the top prize in Category 3, “What could be improved.”  Her winning image shows a neglected tennis court taken over by weeds and litter.  Taylor Hay and Holly Thwaites from Castletown Primary School were also selected for their joint entry featuring two disused and boarded-up old stone buildings.

The final category, “Inspirations From Elsewhere” was won by Ruaraidh Wells from Fort William and Gregor Stuart from Nairn.

All the category winners will now receive a cheque for £50 and their photographs will appear in the Highland-wide development plan that the Council is producing.

Chairman Councillor Drew Hendry congratulated the winners.  He said:  “Each one of the photos shows us what is important to the young people of the Highlands. These photos will help direct decisions being made about how we make better places and communities for young and old from now on.”
 
Highland Youth Convener Gillian Slider has helped to judge the competition.  She said:  “From the comments that were submitted with the photos, you can see that young people have strong and very worthwhile points of view about where they live.”

All winning photographs can be viewed on the Highland Council website http://www.highland.gov.uk/developmentplans.htm and following the links for ‘Keep us in the picture’.