Exmouth College student Wilf Laney-Hubbard is a national winner in the 2019/2020 Rotary Young Photographer Competition.

His entries ‘Through My Eyes’ in the intermediate category for young people aged between 11 and 13 were judged best, first at the local level here in Exmouth, then at the Rotary district covering all the schools in Devon and Cornwall where his prize was a day out with a professional photographer.

Afterwards, Wilf, 14, said: “It was one of the best days of my life – I learnt such a lot.”

Finally, his photographs achieved the winning place in the Rotary National Competition against intermediate entries from all over Great Britain and Ireland.

He will receive vouchers from sponsors Olympus, and The Guild of Photographers will be selecting images to publish in their magazine.

Wilf hopes to buy a new camera from the vouchers presented to him by Olympus and intends to enter other competitions in the future and indeed looks to photography being a major hobby and even a future career.

Maureen De Viell from Exmouth Raleigh Rotary, who organised the young photographer competition for schools in and around the Exmouth area, said that it had been a record-breaking year as more schools and pupils entered than any year before and local judges, Roger Staker and John Sparks, had a very challenging time, although Wilf’s images were outstanding.

She said: “I know this is a very demanding time for schools and their teachers, but Exmouth Raleigh Rotary really hope that pupils will be encouraged to enter photographs in the coming year’s competition.”