Falmouth University photography student, Cameron Smith, has won 2019 Fujifilm Student Photographer of the Year at the UK Picture Editors' Guild Awards which were announced on 9th March 2020 at a ceremony in London.

Cameron said:

"I got involved in the competition through my Press & Editorial Photography course lectures. Our lecturers do a great job of promoting photography competitions!

"It felt amazing winning the top prize. I was competing with two other students on my course so it was very tough competition.

"Apart from winning, the best part of the whole night was talking to all the other press photographers and making connections. This award will really help me move forward and keep me motivated to continue producing quality photography work.

"Photography awards are very important for a future photography career. It's a very competitive industry, whether it's sports or news, and to get your name out there, the awards do really help you to do that."

Second and third place went to Student Photographers of the Year Luke Ross Cameron and Callum Yates, both also second-year students on the same course as Cameron at the Institute of Photography.

Neal Megaw also achieved second place in the Videographer of the Year category.

Press & Editorial Photography Course Leader, Gretchen Viehmann, said:

"Falmouth University was hands-down the buzz of the evening because there has never been a sweep of the awards by a single course like this.

"It was amazing to have so many industry professionals coming up to us and asking us what our secret was (we did not tell them, of course!).

"The students got to meet with and have their work seen by the most powerful people in the photo business, but more than that it was the sense that Press & Editorial Photography at Falmouth is considered to be the best programme in the country by the people in the industry who really know.

"We are so proud of Cameron, Neal, Callum and Luke."