Robert Harding judges the winners of The STA Travel Photo Competition in association with Earls Court Festival 2010.

This year saw the very first STA Travel Photo Competition. The subject was "Exotic Cultures" and who better to judge the winning entries than Robert Harding, Founder and CEO of Robert Harding World Imagery, the world’s leading supplier of Travel and world culture photography.

Alongside Robert on the judging panel were Zoe Whishaw, former head of photography for Getty Images in Europe and currently doing visual communication consulting and Alex Hibbert, International travel and wildlife photographer, polar explorer and three times BBC young photographer of the year finalist.

The competition was organised by The Student Travel Association (STA Travel) and was open to anyone with a camera, the winning prize was a holiday of a lifetime for two people to India worth £2,500 sponsored by British Airways.

The purpose of the competition was to capture the imagination and the essence of "exotic" using photographs taken by amateur photographers while on their travels around the world.

The Exotic Cultures Photography Exhibition celebrating the talent of the 50 young finalists of the Competition can be seen at the Mosaic Galleries, Cromwell Rd, Earls Court until 13th August and then digitally at www.missqs.com for the remainder of the month.

The event has been managed by Sue Lupton, a Trustee of the Earl's Court Community Trust and Janine Doggett, Partnerships & Promotions for STA Travel.

The winners were:

First Prize went to Jim Shannon with his image:
Esfahan, Iran. Two boys cycle through the fountains in Iran’s famous city.

Runner Up was Sophie Brooks who received an Olympus E-PL1 Digital Camera with her image:
Chandan. This student with rare blue eyes which I taught in a deaf school, Bangalore, India

There was also a commendation for Dorothee Leneutre with her image:
Way of life….

In addition to the main prizes there was a special prize voted for by the public and this went to Kathryn Smith with her image:

Head to Marrakech's souks to feast on sweets that taste as colourful as they look...
Kathryn received an Olympus Tough 8010 Camera, perfect for extreme adventure.

About The Earl's Court Festival
Earl's Court is a microcosm of modern Britain. The Festival has been held for the past month to celebrate exotic cultures and Hidden curiosities

The Festival is about establishing links between business, culture, art and the community.

This year's Earl's Court Festival has shown much initiative with an eclectic programme of events of which this STA photo competition is a great example. click for more details