PRESTON Lodge High School pupils have claimed two top prizes in a nationwide photography competition.

Carla Mulholland and Declan Longmuir were celebrating some picture perfect images after being crowned winners in the Scottish Civic Trust’s My Place Photography competition.

The national competition encourages budding photographers, aged between four and 18, to explore the buildings, architecture and archaeology in the places they live, and experiment with using photography as a means of investigation and creative expression.

The competition has free entry, and is open to schools, youth groups, clubs and home-educated young people.

The theme for submissions in 2020 was water, in celebration of Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters.

Carla, 14, who is in S4 at the Prestonpans high school, was the overall winner in the secondary school category for her photograph ‘Autumn Leaves’.

Saskia Hanmer, from Dunbar Grammar School, was highly commended for her picture, titled ‘Time Delays’.

Meanwhile, S3 pupil Declan Longmuir was also celebrating.

The 13-year-old won the Young Persons’ Choice Award for his photograph ‘Christmas at Port Seton Harbour’.

A spokesman for the school said: “This is a real achievement for PL, as our photography course is a short course, recently introduced to the curriculum.

“Congratulations to both pupils!”

Each year, winners of the My Place Photography Competition are honoured at a reception and their entries are displayed in a public exhibition.

The 2020 reception and exhibition launch, which was planned for April 30 at Glasgow Doors Open Days festival hub The Lighthouse, has been rescheduled for September this year.

Fiona Hyslop MSP, cabinet secretary for economy, fair work and culture, said: “I want to congratulate all of this year’s entrants for the exceptional standard of photography that has again been produced by Scotland’s schoolchildren for the My Place Photography Awards, and the many inventive ways in which they have captured their local built environments.

“The awards are a terrific way to stimulate interest and to nurture a concern for our surroundings from an early age, and it’s great that we can still enjoy seeing the world through the eyes of our young people, by way of the online gallery this year.”