College students recognised for their festive photography skills at Warwick's Christmas tree festival

Students from Royal Leamington Spa College have been recognised for their festive photography skills following a successful Christmas tree festival in Warwick.

Level 3 Extended Diploma Visual Communication students were invited to photograph the 52 Christmas trees at St Mary’s Church Christmas Tree Festival.

Royal Leamington Spa College is part of college group WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group).

Trees were donated to the festival by businesses, charities, schools and organisations from across Warwick and the students were tasked with capturing the best photos of the trees.

The festival attracted more than 5,000 visitors and raised over £8,000 for St Mary’s Church – with the festival entry by Heritage and Culture Warwickshire selected as the winning tree for the adult section by the Mayor of Warwick Cllr Richard Edgington.

Students worked in pairs and were allocated a group of trees to photograph – in the knowledge that a prize was on the line for the winning pair.

College tutors Irene Tsiampakou and Jane Murray were asked to select the winning pair, with the winners awarded a £100 Amazon voucher and the runners-up £75 between them – after sponsorship from Gillian Fletcher.

Anna Cygal and Jack Probert won the overall prize and the two runner-up pairs were Oscar Jayes and Amelia Burgess, and Sophie Bevan and Ella Walker.

Festival organisers Helen Fitzpatrick and Carol Warren congratulated the winners at a ceremony at St Mary’s Church as the festival came to a close.

Irene Tsiampakou, course leader for Visual Communication at WCG, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for our students to develop their photography skills.

"The task was quite challenging as the lighting conditions were ever changing and we had limited time to shoot before it was too dark.

“The students did a fantastic job to photograph and edit the work. We were incredibly impressed by the photos that were captured and it was very difficult to choose the winners from such a high-quality group of entries.

“As well as giving the students real world on-site photography experience, they will now see their images published as part of publicity for future Christmas Tree Festivals at St Mary’s Church.

“We would like to thank St Mary’s Church, the organisers and Gillian Fletcher for their support and creating this opportunity for our students.

"We look forward to building on this collaboration between WCG and St Mary’s Church in the future.”