Hawke's Bay Today photo competition winner has never owned a camera

The Hawke's Bay Today Canon Harvey Norman Summer Photo Competition was a dream-come-true for 12-year-old winner Molly Simon, with a little help from her friends.

After receiving here $1400 prize package from Harvey Norman floor manager Lucain MacDonald, including an "amazing" Canon 200D camera and an 18mm-55mm Canon lens, she revealed her friends helped her get the money shot, and decided which one she should enter into the competition.

Their collective eye for a good one was spot on, for, as it happened, judges and Hawke's Bay Today photographers Warren Buckland and Paul Taylor, unaware of each other's choice, also selected the image as the one to take the top price.

Happy snapper Molly Simon with her new camera, and Harvey Norman floor manager Lucain MacDonald. Photo / Paul Taylor

"I decided to enter the competition as I was saving up for a new camera," said the schoolgirl, who grabbed the opportunity when "everyone" was going to Blackhead Beach for New Year's Eve.

"I thought it would be a perfect opportunity," she said. "I went out and took heaps of pictures and then we came back and decided together that we liked that one."

Her prize also includes a voucher for 1000 prints, and a 12 x 18 print.

Buckland, Hawke's Bay Today's chief photographer, said the picture showed a maturity well beyond Molly's 12 years.

"Molly has produced a photograph that transports the viewer into a timeless, peaceful Hawke's Bay vista," he said.

"The composition draws the viewer in to ask questions, imagining the thoughts of the subject captured in a quiet, contemplative moment."

"That's what a good photograph should do, make you think," he said.

Molly Simon's winning photograph transported the viewer into the Blackhead Beach scene. Photo / Molly Simon

Second prize - a 500 print voucher worth $125 - was awarded to Martin Williams' fun shot taken poolside on Napier Hill on Christmas Day, of his nephew, William Brown, being launched into the water by dad Richard Brown.

Third - a 250 print voucher valued at $62.50 - went to Wilray Price, from Flaxmere.