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Stunning captures of city parks scoop awards in this year’s Belfast Parks Photographic Competition

Date: 27 Feb 2025


Four people, winners of the Belfast Parks Photographic Competition, hold winning framed photographs with trees behind them

Stunning captures of city parks have scooped prizes in a photographic competition, run by Belfast City Council.

The images were taken of a number of locations, among these, Cave Hill Country Park, Falls Park, Victoria Park, Ormeau Park, Botanic Gardens and Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park.

Sponsored by McQuillan Companies, there were four categories of the competition for ‘Park Landscapes’, ‘Seasons in our Parks, ‘People in our Parks’ and an ‘Under 16s’ category. 

The three winners of each category were presented with awards at a special event in Malone House this week.

They were:

Park Landscapes

1st Richard Elley (capture of Falls Park)

2nd Ciara Dreelan (capture of Cave Hill Country Park)

3rd Stephen Gibson (capture of Victoria Park)

Seasons in our Parks

1st Stephen Martin (capture of Ormeau Park)

2nd William Corr  (capture of Cave Hill Country Park)

3rd Claire Mitchell (capture of Cherryvale Park)

People in our Parks

1st David Mills (capture of Botanic Gardens)

2nd Peter Soult (capture of Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park)

3rd Hugh Campbell (capture of Botanic Gardens)

Under 16s

1st Zoia Wilkowska (capture of Lagan Meadows)

2nd Micah Hill (capture of Cave Hill Country Park)

3rd Jack Kirkpatrick (capture of Victoria Park) 

Councillor Ruth Brooks, Chair of the council’s People and Communities Committee, said: “Congratulations to all the winners of this year’s Belfast Parks Photographic Competition. There were so many great entries and the judges had a very hard task of choosing the three winners for each category.

“This competition has been running for many years now and it’s always wonderful to see the stunning and differing captures of our parks and open spaces from the entries.

“Our parks and open spaces continue to be a valuable asset to our city contributing to the health and well-being of our residents and visitors and the nature and wildlife living within them.”

Among the winners was 9-year-old, Zoia Wilkowska, who won first prize in the Under 16s section for her stunning capture of Lagan Meadows and was accompanied to the awards ceremony by her Dad.

While budding photographer, 11-year-old Jack Kirkpatrick, who was accompanied by his Mum, loves photography and captured his winning entry of Victoria Park after getting a camera for Christmas.

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