The Fujifilm Student Awards 2009 in conjunction with Penguin took place last week. It was held at the Penguin offices in London, a great location over-looking the Thames.

I'll get it out of the way, I didn't win overall. That honour went to Andrew Partner from Leicester College. You can see his winning image along with the other Merit Award winners on the Fujifilm Student Awards website here.

It was a great evening, the hospitality, the location and great weather along with getting this far in the competition have made it memorable. The other finalists had great entries and it was difficult to guess beforehand who would win overall. Right up until the announcement, I felt an excited and nervous buzz. It could have been any of us.

Congratulations to Andrew Partner, who will have his image printed on the cover of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. He will also win £200 worth of Fujifilm Professional film and 25 Penguin Classics titles of his choice.

The other Merit award winners will receive 10 rolls of Fujicolor PRO160S professional colour negative film, a Penguin Classic of their choice (I've picked Susan Sontag's On Photography) and a copy of The Language of Things.

Burton College, at which I study, also picked up a prize for the institution with the most entries. The college will gain £250 worth of Fujifilm Professional film and 100 Penguin Classics titles for its library.

I'm really pleased with how far I got. I enjoyed the whole process from beginning to end and I think being narrowed down from 1500 entries to one of the thirty Merit winners is quite an achievement.

I'd like to thank Fujifilm and Penguin for this opportunity and for a great evening. I'd also like to thank my tutors for encouraging me to enter and the advice they gave me. And of course, thank you to family and friends who came along, gave me encouragement or wished me luck.

The people who threw those shopping trolleys into the river should also be acknowledged. Otherwise I wouldn't of had the image in the first place!

For further information and photos, please see the press release on the Fujifilm Student Awards website here.