Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation awards outstanding young photographers

Several young photographers walked away with accolades on October 26, at the photography exhibition and awards ceremony staged by the Grace and Staff Community Development Foundation at the GraceKennedy Headquarters at Harbour Street.

The members of combined photo clubs - the Learning Institute of Central Kingston (LICK) and Spanish Town Photographic Artists Reaping Knowledge (SPARK) - received prizes, gift certificates, and the opportunity for continued mentorship by noted photographer Howard Moo Young.

First prize went to Patrick Williams for his entry Nuts in the Clouds, with second prize awarded to Monifa McKenzie for Despair. Courtney Bryan took third for Cherished Moments. The theme of the competition was 'Leeds Through the Lens,' which took the participants to the farming community of Leeds in St Elizabeth, where they focused on flora, animals, places of interest, and people.

Howard Moo Young served as judge and congratulated the participants.

The ceremony was addressed by Keino Senior, dean, School of Arts Management at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. He noted that photography and the other art forms offered "endless opportunities and possibilities for creatives as more persons were now recognising the significance of the function of creativity in commerce, politics, news, and social life".

Consulting psychologist for the Grace and Staff programme and coordinator of the photography clubs Dr Curtis Sweeney pointed out that social media had made photography a more vibrant art form. In giving a brief overview of the photography programme, initiated in 1996, he said that the clubs had, to date, visited seven parishes and had earned 17 awards in the annual JCDC Festival competition, including six out of 12 entries last year.