The winners of the 'Monmouth – Mucky or Magnificent' photographic competition were announced Monday night (20th May) from the 80 entries submitted by the public.

Monmouth's litter group ran the competition, with funding from Tidy Towns, to raise the level of awareness in the mucky litter left in this magnificent county.

The three judges, David Hurn, an internationally renowned photographer; Michael Mortimer, a local litter champion, and Beacon photographer Desmond Pugh, were tasked with sifting through the entries, scanned and printed by Monmouth Photo Centre, to produce six winning entries in the three age categories.

Isaac Johnson was the '11 and under' winner of both categories. Among the 12 to 16-year-olds, Allegra Seymour won for her 'magnificent' picture and George Davis for his 'mucky' entry. The adult winner for the two categories was Charlotte Oven.

Those winners present were given a certificate and a cheque for £40 by deputy mayor Jane Gunter.

Prior to the awards Tom Ward-Jackson, from Keep Wales Tidy, showed a series of pictures on the litter problem in the county, highlighting the impact on wildlife and pollution it creates.

Alison Howard, a Tidy Towns officer, said they are able to finance projects that help to clear areas blighted by fly-tipping and litter problems.

Anthea Dewhurst, one of the councillors on the town's environment committee and a seasoned litter campaigner, said afterwards that the next stage will be to identify areas with a litter problem.