Parks Trust announces winners of its Milton Keynes photography competition

Six hundred and sixty five photographs were entered by 230 people from across the city, and 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 Gardener’s stunning black and white close up of a swan clinched the overall youth winner title.

Peter 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.”