Nower Hill High School pupils recently competed in a photography competition organised by housebuilder Barratt London, who is currently building Eastman Village on Harrow View; on the site of the former Kodak factory. The winner was announced as 16-year-old Maria Sexton, at an exhibition hosted at neighbouring Headstone Manor Museum on Thursday 11th November, with fellow students Elizabeth Serrao, 15, and Roshni Ahtti, 16, in second and third place.

Inspired by the history of Kodak, and Eastman Village’s namesake and Kodak founder, George Eastman, pupils were asked to take a photograph that represented the story of their street. Winner Maria used this brief to cleverly highlight how her street had come together during lockdown.

Ed McCoy, Sales and Marketing Director for Barratt West London, said: “We want to congratulate Maria and all her fellow pupils for their hard work on this competition. All the entries were excellent and choosing a winner proved far more difficult than initially anticipated. We selected Maria as our winner as we felt she most effectively met the brief in depicting her street, not just aesthetically but on a human level too. She captured a unique moment in history where neighbours supported each other at a time of shared crisis. It was one of the better things that came from the pandemic, showing how the human spirit prevailed. Her beautiful representation perfectly captures a time when our streets became our whole world, and this is why she won first place.”

As the winner, Maria was awarded a brand new Kodak digital camera to encourage her to continue working on her passion for photography, with runners up gifted £50 and £25 Amazon vouchers.

Aisling McGarvey, Photography Teacher at Nower Hill High School, commented: “We are very proud of Maria and all our students for their contributions to this competition and can’t wait to display their photos at the school. I want to say a big thank you to Barratt London and Headstone Manor for giving our pupils this opportunity. It is great to see that the photographic history in Harrow is continuing to be honoured at the new site.”