International student photographers capture first impressions of UK
Kaiyu Zhang - Soul of Brighton
Pia-Leena Heikkila - Relaxing people at Brighton Pier
Evelyn Leon - Learning from others, how to analyse things from a different perspective
A Chinese student’s photograph of a soaring seagull has won first prize in a competition for new international students at the University of Sussex.
Kaiyu Zhang, a Master’s student in Business and Management, won first prize – £50 worth of Amazon vouchers – for his picture, captioned ‘Soul of Brighton’.
The competition organisers in International Student Support invited all new international students, including those from the EU, to capture something that had made the biggest impact on them during the arrival and induction period in mid September.
“Although we got a lot of entries which had Brighton’s famous seagulls as their subject matter, we felt that this image showed a really unusual perspective as it was taken from below,” said the judges.
“The sun rays shining through the feathers of the wings transformed the seagull from what many people consider to be a bit of an annoying pest into a beautiful and elegant creature worthy of winning our photo competition!”
The seaside seems to have made quite an impact on the new international students at Sussex, with the other two prizewinners submitting photos taken on Brighton seafront.
Second prize was awarded to Pia-Leena Heikkila from Finland. Pia-Leena, a Visiting and Exchange student in Psychology, won £30 worth of Amazon vouchers for her photograph, entitled ‘Relaxing people at Brighton Pier’.
“This is a scene which becomes very familiar to anyone who spends a lot of time in Brighton,” said the judges, “but the colours and composition of this particular shot really appealed.”
Third place was awarded to postgraduate Evelyn Leon from Mexico, studying economics.
Evelyn was awarded £20 worth of Amazon vouchers for her entry, called ‘Learning from others, how to analyse things from a different perspective’, which captures a moody, cloudy sky over the pebbly Brighton beach.
The judges said: “We loved the caption and the different elements within the photo, all brought together in one image.”
The winning photographs were chosen by International Student Support out of 112 entries in total. Students were allowed to submit up to four photographs, each showcasing their first impressions of Sussex and the UK.
To see all entries in the competition, visit the International Student Support Facebook page.