Quality of life, national pride and partnerships recognised in Year of Our Island Photography Competition

An evocative black and white image of Douglas Bay Horse Tramway is the overall winner in the 2018 Year of Our Island photography competition.

The image of handsome shire horse Andrew and now-retired horse tram driver Ned Kennaugh, was taken by Janet Lees.

It was unveiled as the winner of the competition at the opening of an exhibition of 18 of the best images last night (Wednesday).

The competition invited images that captured the essence of the Isle of Man and demonstrated what a special place it is to live, work and visit, reflecting our relationship with nature, our community spirit and our heritage.

More than 180 images were entered in four categories: Quality of Life, National Pride and Stronger Partnerships and Under-16.

Our Island political chair Chris Thomas MHK, who chaired the judges, said: ‘We were blown away with the quality of the photos we received from both amateur and professional photographers and it was an honour to be given the opportunity to judge the submissions.

‘We are extremely grateful to all of our entrants for sharing their photos with us. Year of Our Island was about the people and the places that make the Isle of Man special and I believe that our exhibition truly does show the Isle of Man at its best.’

Jo Overty, Biosphere Project Officer, joined Mr Thomas; Isle of Man Newspapers’ photographer Mike Wade; professional photographer Brook Wassall and Manx Radio’s Christy de Haven to judge the entries.

The judges said of the winning image: ‘Mr Kennaugh is a familiar face to locals and visitors alike, the trams a much-loved pert of our heritage and we loved the joy in this image, the happiness on Mr Kennaugh’s face and how Andrew is standing tall and proud in his finery. We also loved how the light fell.’

The free exhibition will be on display in the Villa Marina gallery space until the end of March and there will also be an opportunity to view the images online at ourisland.im 

For more information about Our Island, go online to ourisland.im, call 01624 687007 or email ourisland@gov.im