GRANGE HILL, Westmoreland – When Mourice Edmond, Visual Arts Teacher at Grange Hill High School in Westmoreland re-started the Camera Club at the institution four years ago, he had no idea that the students would have taken to the art.

Now three years later, the hard work and perseverance of the student photographers are returning rewards.

Last week, two Grange Hill High students, Petrona McDonald and Osheenei Graham, received top prizes in the Jamaica National Building Society Foundation’s Resolution Project Awards, held at the Rex Nettleford Hall at The University of the West Indies, Mona.

Initiated by Earl Jarrett, General Manager of Jamaica National, the JN Resolution Project, formerly called Youth Zoom, is an annual high school photography competition. Resolution Project equips and trains approximately 200 students per year in the art of photography and advocacy. It offers a creative avenue through which young people in rural Jamaica can express and give voice to their concerns.

The project challenges students to critically examine issues affecting their respective communities, and facilitates the use of photography as a tool to commend, or advocate for change in situations and the lives of people, which might otherwise have been invisible.

Petrona received the first prize in the “National Heroes Park” category, for her photograph ‘Lord and Lady.’ The category forms part of the images she captured during a Kingston field trip, which was extended to all Resolution Project Schools in November last year.

Osheenei won the second prize in the “Work” category for his piece on ‘The Cutting Edge’ and third prize in the ‘Jamaica Day’ Category with his piece on ‘Jamaica: I’m on it’.

The students are happy to have been recognised.

“I am very excited. I never knew that I would get so far in the competition because I had many doubts; and when I heard my name called for first place, I was so happy,” Petrona shared. She said the piece shows a young lady standing beside a Jamaica Defence Force guard. The future nurse hopes to continue to refine her photographic skills.

Meanwhile, Osheenei who wants to become a photojournalist/film director said he is fond of the art of photography as he likes to capture people with his lens.

“I like to take unusual images,” he noted.

He said the JN Resolution Project allowed him to know how to use the camera adding that, “with photography, you can tell any story you want; you can tell a million stories from one just one picture.”

Edmond, who is very proud of his students, said, “Osheenei worked very hard and goes the extra mile.” “He works off his own initiative and he is very talented; and, it is good that he has been rewarded,” he noted.

He also commended Petrona for her achievements, noting that, “photography is another avenue for our kids to express themselves.”

Grange Hill High School recognises the importance of the arts, and sees it as a way for students to express their talents in varying modes. As a result, the school will be offering photography as part of its main stream curriculum as of the next academic year.

Jarrett told recipients at the awards ceremony that photography is a powerful tool for advocacy, because it can and have changed lives.

“The Resolution Project provides an avenue for you to use your creativity to conceptualise and create high quality images, which can speak volumes about issues that affect you and other members of your communities,” he stressed. “Photographs are our memories, and it is important that what is captured is a record for posterity, whether good or bad.”

Now in its ninth year, the Resolution Project has grown in scope and impact.

According to Alicia Glasgow, the arts and media specialists at the JN Foundation, over the last two years, greater emphasis has been placed on widening the reach and exposure of student photographers to achieve awareness of their stated advocacy issues.

The Resolution Project has mounted an exhibition of photographs at the Institute of Jamaica, on East Street, Kingston, which will end on August 30.