Poems and photographs inspired by Portsmouth’s aspirations are winners of creative competition marking 2040 city vision

Work by photographers and writers has been selected in the Imagine Portsmouth poetry and photography competition as best capturing the essence of the city’s hopes.

The Capture Portsmouth photo and poetry competition was run through the summer of 2021, following the launch of the new Imagine Portsmouth 2040 city vision in early 2021.

The purpose of the city vision is to collectively look forwards to a positive future for Portsmouth in 2040.

More than 2,500 people contributed to the development of the vision’s six aspirations for the future of Portsmouth, as well as a set of values that describe how living in the city will feel in the future.

Entrants to the poetry competition were invited to submit entries inspired by the values and aspirations of the city vision.

The poems were judged by poets Amanda Garrie and Maggie Sawkins, and by Alison Habens from the University of Portsmouth.

The judges selected two winning poems in the 18 and over category, and one winning poem in the children and young people category, as well as selecting two poems as highly commended.

The winners of the 18 and over category are Jane Olive with her poem ‘Portsea Island’ and Suzanne Puntis with her ‘A Rap for Portsmouth’.

Mohamed Helal took home the title of under 18 with his untitled prose poem.

The poems can be read on the Imagine Portsmouth website.

Entrants to the photography competition were invited to submit entries inspired by the values and aspirations of the city vision.

The photography competition was judged by photographers Paul Gonella from Strong Island, Habibur Rahman from The News, and chief petty officer Owen Cooban, photographic operations planner from the Royal Navy.

Paul said: ‘It has been wonderful seeing all the excellent submitted images showing how people view and wish to share their own personal and creative way of seeing their much-loved home city of Portsmouth.

‘I can’t begin to imagine what incredible photos would be submitted if the year was 2040, but it excites the imagination and makes me optimistic for our city’s future.’

See the photography winners’ work below.

Jake Davies won three photography categories and was named the overall winner.

He said: ‘I was quite surprised to say that I'd won three categories, it was really nice actually. Really happy that I'd won.

‘I love to go around Portsmouth and capture as much as I can of the city, from sunsets to the Spinnaker Tower.

‘Always looking out for the next new spot to take a photo of - I'm sure there's some places I can still find.’

See more of his work on Instagram at @daviesphotography.