Stamford College Photography student wins ILFORD International Student Photography Competition.

Elita Earl, Level 3 Photography and Video student of Stamford College has been awarded the ILFORD Photo International Student Photographer of the Year 2024/25 as well as fellow student, Willow Gill advancing onto the final round of judging with her submission, ‘Women in Sport’. 

Elita Earl, Level 3 Photography and Video student of Stamford College has been awarded the ILFORD Photo International Student Photographer of the Year 2024/25 as well as fellow student, Willow Gill advancing onto the final round of judging with her submission, ‘Women in Sport’. 

For the second consecutive year, a Stamford College Photography student has won this prestigious award open to individuals of any age, undertaking a full or part-time course at a school, college or university. This year, ILFORD set the theme ‘Pride & Prejudice’ tasking students to create a piece which resonated with them. 

Elita’s winning entry was a self portrait inspired by famous photographer Nan Goldin including the development of flash photography using a film camera. She was thrilled to hear about her success saying, “I haven’t processed winning the award yet! I’m so proud and the effort I put in has really paid off.” She added, ‘it’s nice to be recognised for a piece of work I enjoyed creating’  

Steven Butter, Assistant Head of Faculty for Performing and Creative Arts praised Elita saying “I am incredibly proud of Elita for winning this year’s competition. Her hard work, dedication, and ambition truly shone through, especially in her self-portrait, which captured the theme so brilliantly.” He added “For Stamford College students to win this prestigious competition two years in a row is an outstanding achievement.”

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the college for its continued support, which has played a pivotal role in helping students like Elita reach their full potential.”

Fellow student Willow, was equally as shocked when she found out she has been shortlisted, “I was so surprised when I found out, using a film camera was out of my comfort zone so I didn’t think it would resonate with judges.’ She added ‘The overall theme was Pride and Prejudice so I thought the inequality in Women’s sport was a great fit!”

Willow found her passion for sports photography at College and is now Official Photographer for the local ice hockey team Peterborough Phantoms and The Lincolnshire Bombers . 

Both Elita and Willow are progressing their Photography skills at university level. Elita said “After College, I’m taking a gap year to travel and then studying Documentary and Editorial Photography at Falmouth University.” Meanwhile Willow has an unconditional offer to study Sports Photography at Nottingham Trent University.