The competition was held in conjunction with the Natural History Museum and runs alongside Veolia's sponsorship of the national Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition which is set to open on October 22 with another awards ceremony.
Paul Levett, deputy chief executive of Veolia, commented: “We have been astonished by the level of commitment and high quality pictures.”
He explained that Veolia wanted to become involved with the Wildlife Photography of the Year competition and develop a partnership with the museum in order to build up recognition of the Veolia brand in the UK.
Mike Dixon, director of the Natural History Museum, who presented the awards, said he was “delighted” with all the 300 plus entries and that it was important for the museum to partner other strong brands such as Veolia.
He added: “I do like to think that this is the beginning of a long-term partnership.”
Winners
The winners were each presented with £150 and a trophy from Veolia and received a framed copy of their photograph and a certificate.
The winners were:
• Richard Jones, driver, South Downs, in the adult urban category;
• Andrew Burgess, operations assistant manager, South Downs in the adult countryside category;
• Amy Colyer, aged 14, in the child urban category;
• And, Jennie Wood, aged 5, in the child countryside category.
The runners-up who each received a certificate and a £50 prize, were:
• Jessica Chamley, aged 12, in the child urban category;
• Peter Chamley, aged 14, in the child countryside category;
• Alec Carpenter, horticulture operative at Ealing, in the adult countryside category;
• And, Jane Perryman, supervisor, East Hampshire, in the adult urban category.
A spokesman for Veolia explained that the winners, runners-up and shortlisted contributors came from all areas of the Veolia work staff.
Science
Veolia is also set to extend its relationship with the UK's museums by sponsoring Science Night at the Science Museum. Science Night will see 380 underprivileged children and 100 adults take part in a sleep-over at the museum. Veolia is sponsoring 140 places for children to take part in the evening.
In addition to sleeping at the museum the children also get the chance to take part in a number of scientific workshops. This year the night, which has been running since 1993, will include workshops focusing on recycling with the aim of teaching the children to 'reduce, re-use and recycle'.
Richard Kirkman, head of technology for Veolia Environmental Services says: “As an environmental services company we know how important education is in encouraging good environmental practices in both children and adults. We are delighted to lend our support to the Science Museum's Science Night and particularly, to sponsor the 140 underprivileged children who can now take part in this fantastic programme.”
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