A VOLUNTEER from Burnham has bagged the top prize at an international photography competition.

Greg Wallaker, 21, has been named winner of the annual International Citizen Service (ICS) Photography Competition, beating strong competition from more than 300 photographers from 23 different countries.

Greg snapped the outstanding winning picture whilst volunteering in Bangladesh in autumn last year.

He spent three months there working on projects to help local people to set up and grow their own businesses and manage their personal health.

Greg’s photo was chosen as the overall winner of the competition by a panel of three photography professionals and many of the 4000 online voters who helped choose the shortlist.

Nineteen runner-up entries came from volunteers on placements as far apart as Honduras and Nepal, and highlight the work ICS volunteers do on projects ranging from improving access to safe drinking water to stopping the spread of HIV and other STIs.

Greg said: “I took the winning photo in a three-room school on the outskirts of a village we were working in.

“I was helping run a session about health and hygiene, keeping time, handing things out to the children and taking photos, trying to capture the focus and concentration in the kids' faces.

“Whilst the other volunteers set up for their next lesson the students started chatting away to each other. I shot this photo then, but the girl you see in the photo looked straight into the camera at the split second I took it, then turned away again. I thought it was pure luck that she'd glanced my way at that moment!”

Greg said that working in Bangladesh was like “a different world” and that he was completely inspired.

He added: “I’m most grateful for the wealth of knowledge and inspiration that was given to me and everyone else involved. Though we had some tough times in this place which almost seemed like a different world, the whole team really coalesced, including the in-country volunteers.

“With such a warm welcome from the communities, we were made to feel like members of a huge family. It was so refreshing to see such a high level of social integration that we seemed to have lost at home.

“That’s what was really inspiring, the raw intuition of young people coming together and thriving off of each other.”

Greg’s image will be on display at Westminster Central Hall, London, from Monday 5 December until Saturday 3 January. Members of the public can visit the exhibition for free. The exhibition will then go on a national tour around the UK.

Visit www.volunteerics.org.