Ajax Amy, a student at Elizabeth College, has won the first ever iteration of the Barry Wells Award for Young Photographers.
He claimed top prize for his smartphone photo of a bee mid-flight.
The image was submitted to the Guernsey Arts Bailiwick Wildlife Photography Exhibition and was chosen by the Pollinator Project team.
“Judging is always a tough job, but we all agreed that this image perfectly captured a moment in time and showed the close relationship between pollinators and flowers,“ said Sharon Hickman from the Pollinator Project. “Catching any flying creature is a real skill and Ajax did a great job.
“It was really good to see so many different insects represented as it’s not only bees, but butterflies, moths, beetles and even wasps and flies that are important pollinators in Guernsey. We also had good fun identifying just what sort of bee it is as we don’t often see them from that angle.”
The award, which will run for three years, offers a £500 prize annually to a student up to age 24 in full-time education who submits the best photo of a pollinating insect in Guernsey.
Ajax will also receive a gift membership to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
Jayne Wells who presented the award said Mr Wells would have loved to see all the entries and share his boundless enthusiasm for photography and protecting Guernsey’s nature.
“He was an inspiration to so many people and it’s lovely to see that the donations made in his memory have gone to help young photographers. Anyone that knew him will know that he amassed all sorts of cameras and lenses but often it was a snap on a smartphone that worked just as well”.
An exhibition of Barry Wells’ photography and student artwork inspired by nature will also be held at the Gatehouse Gallery, which opens on Friday 31 January between 17:00 – 18:00.
It will also be open over the next three weekends between 10:00 and 16:00.