After months of shortlisting and judging tens of thousands of your contributions, last night we announced the winners of the first ever GuardianWitness Awards. The ceremony took place in central London and was hosted by comedian and writer David Mitchell. And what a night it was! We were delighted that so many of our readers could join us for the evening – it was great to meet you all.
The winning contributions demonstrated the breadth and variety of the content you've shared with us on GuardianWitness over the past year, from groundbreaking art and agenda-setting journalism, to compelling human interest stories and pet pictures.
Big congratulations to the overall winner, Andy Luck, who was crowned EE contributor of the year. Andy also won the award for Best original short film for his animation, Pasty Child, co-directed by George Tymvios. It's a quirky dark comedy about a child with a pasty for a head. Clare Margetson – the Guardian's network editor and chair of the awards judging panel – said: "The overall winner demonstrates a fantastically exciting way of using GuardianWitness. This was about creativity rather than journalism. And that's something we feel strongly about – just as the Guardian as a whole has a fine history of supporting the creative arts in so many forms, so GuardianWitness should showcase not just journalism but the creative arts as well."
The News contribution of the year award went to a photo taken at the scene of the Woolwich murder, which was captured by an anonymous bystander who chose to collect the award under the name Vince Lee. Paul Owen, Guardian news editor said: "In my view this photograph sent in by Vince Lee, who witnessed the attack, provides a record of the murder of Lee Rigby in a way comparable to the best photo-journalism or war photography. We used it as our main picture on the next day’s live coverage."
The Award for a series of contributions was shared between joint winners: Barbaros Kayan for his photos of protests in Turkey and Giles Bennett for his photos of extreme weather in Aberystwyth.
The award judges said about Giles Bennett’s images: "These photos show a real sense of threat. They are unusually good photos of flooding which make you feel close to it."
Barbaros Kayan’s series were described by the judges as "some of the best composed and shot photos seen. The photographer managed to tell the story from the perspective of both the protester and the police."
The Bigger picture award went to Claire Wallerstein for her photo of an exhausted seal pup sheltering among mounds of plastic waste.
Exhausted seal pup sheltering among mounds of plastic waste
I run a local beach cleaning group and was asked by the RSPCA to go to try to locate an exhausted seal pup reported by a member of the public on Tregonhawke Beach, Whitsand Bay, SE Cornwall (we have had several along our coastline - they have come ashore to take shelter after being battered by the storms). What I found was this pitiful scene - spotting the seal is almost like 'Where's Wally'. Our group removed about 400 sacks of rubbish from our beaches over the past nine months, but the amount that has been spewed up from the sea recently is so massive that the task seems insurmountable.
Caroline Johnson's sketch of her mum in hospital won the Human interest award.
Mum in Hospital
Mum is in her late eighties and has dementia and I help care for her. I'd called round and found her sitting on the settee, hardly able to speak or move and looking very pale. I rang for the ambulance - we found out later she'd had a heart attack. I didn't have my sketchbook with me and hesitated all day to draw her, then finally asked for a couple of sheets of paper from the nurses.
After several weeks, Mum was able to return home.
The award for Best original still went to Soar by Souvid Datta.
Matt Wood won the Food award for his striking photo of a Mombasa meat market.
Dom Burgess won the Science award for his Higgs boson explainer film, Science is Everything.
Science is everything: Higgs boson explainer
What is matter? All will be explained. GO SCIENCE!
We were particularly excited to welcome some of the doggy nominees for Pet of the year to the event. The venerable Mr Piddles wagged his tail at the sight of so many doting fans – even though he didn't win. Immi, the adorable pug, stuck her tongue out at everyone, as is her wont. And Rafferty posed for umpteen photos with his friends, old and new.
#Rafferty enjoying a cuddle with @cathyheffernan at super amaseballs @GuardianWitness Awards. #Bigsmiles pic.twitter.com/7B2xefS9B1
— Mary GriffithsClarke (@marygwengriff) March 28, 2014
Despite strong canine competition, Pet of the year was awarded to Mila the cat and her owner, Harpal Padwal. Mila couldn't attend the Awards due to being a cat, but she thanks the judges in this moving acceptance speech.
Guests at the event were also treated to a gallery of some of our favourite works submitted to Share your art in the last year. Here's regular contributor Sukhbir Hothi posing with one of his creations.
@GuardianWitness I'm told Hannah Freeman created 'share your art' so a big thank you to her for this marvel. pic.twitter.com/16ELrwIK7W
— Sukhbir Hothi Art (@Sukhbirhothi) March 28, 2014
Thank you very much to all of you who have contributed to GuardianWitness over the last year.
