Media Release                                                                                    April 29 , 2011

Cheerful sunflower pic is Australian winner

A farmer admiring a sunflower with petals removed to form a cheerful face is the winner of the 2011 Australian Star Prize for Rural Photography.

The image with the sun peeping through the farmers arm was captured by New South Wales photographer Michael Petey. It was published in The Land newspaper on June 10, 2010, under the story line All Smiles at Sunny Yields.

Competition judge Jim Fenwick said the photo showed imagination and a sense of humor, illustrating the subject with clever technique. “The juxtaposition of the sun and the flower was the perfect composition for maximum impact,” said Mr Fenwick, who is retired Pictorial Editor of The Courier Mail in Brisbane.

The photo won the People Category of the Star Prize before going on to take the overall award.

The prestigious competition is organized by the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists (ACAJ), the umbrella body for Australia’s five rural press clubs, which each submitted three photos to represent their state in national judging.

The Nature/landscape Category was won by South Australian photographer Mark Brake for a photo of a fireman hosing flames during a fire in Belair Park. It was published in The Advertiser on October 16, 2010. The judge commented that the image captured the drama of the occasion with a vignette effect enhancing the impact.

The Production category was won by Steve Hynes, with a photograph published in the Warnambool Standard in Victoria on January 28, 2010. His image of two bulls facing head to head was a standout, Mr Fenwick said.

Another Production category photo of a group of goats climbing up the side of their pen taken by Adelaide Advertiser photographer Tait Schmaal was highly commended.

The three winners will now represent Australia in a world photography award run by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ), with the result to be announced during the annual IFAJ Congress in Canada in September.
To view the winning images visit www.acaj.org.au

Ends
For more information, contact ACAJ President Liz Harfull on 0409 674 941 or photo award coordinator Gordon Collie on 0409 473 343.

Other Category Winners & Highly Commended Below

Production Winner 2011 - Steve Hynes

Nature 2011 Winner - Mark Brake - SA

Highly Commended 2011 Photo - Tait Schmaal