A deeply moving and personal photograph taken of a volunteer washing dishes at a community hub has won the judge’s top prize in this year’s Harrow Photographer of the Year competition.

Speaking at the glittering awards evening at West House on Saturday night, Steve Muscat, the winning photographer said,

“Winning was unexpected! I wasn’t going to enter – it was just something I took on a volunteers’ day at My Yard and people liked it!”

Gerard Khumbalani, the My Yard volunteer pictured in the photo said, “To be in the winning photograph is amazing, I just didn’t expect that! Sometimes we can get up to 60 people to the community hub on a Monday, and we don’t have 60 dishes! So they have to come through the sink and be washed several times. Having been homeless myself, I’ve now seen what I can do for others.”

They were joined at the awards evening by Alan Rhodes, whose incredible photograph ‘Citizen Scientist at Work’ won not only the Community Photography category, but was also hugely popular with the public vote, only pipped to the top spot in the ‘People’s Choice’ category by Darshna Ladva’s remarkable supermoon.

Alan and his partner Sian take readings from the Yeading Brook at the bottom of Church Avenue every month as part of ZSL’s Riverfly Monitoring project, in partnership with Harrow Nature Conservation Forum. Alan said, “Hopefully this photo can raise the profile of the project. It’s important as it gives good feedback on the state of our local rivers so they know where money needs to be invested if they need cleaning up.”

Harrow Young Photographer of the Year, which has been supported this year by Harrow Camera Club, was won by Amariss Addy-Cornwell, whose portrait of two young women in hijabs stunned the judging panel. Indeed, one of the panel members, Niaz Maleknia (who is herself an award-winning photographer) has tipped the photo for further prizes nationally. Niaz said, “Amariss’ work shows a remarkable skill and maturity, she captures real connection and emotion with impressive clarity”.

All the photos in this year were responding to the theme ‘This is Important’ and have powerful messages behind them. Of her photograph, Amariss, who is a year 13 student at Hatch End High School, said, “This is Important because it speaks to visibility, representation, and self-expression. In a world that often misinterprets or overlooks women who choose to wear the hijab, this image reclaims the narrative. It’s a reminder that there is power in being seen as we truly are, and strength in standing together with pride.”

The full exhibition will be on display from 19th November until 3rd December at Harrow Arts Centre.