Student designs new Dickens cover

A creative University of Wolverhampton student has won a competition to design the front cover for a new edition of the Charles Dickens classic, Oliver Twist.

BA (Hons) Photography student, Alexandros Panagiotopoulos, was selected as the winner of a competition launched by the Guardian and Vintage Classics for a new photographic cover for the new edition, which will be published in April.

The competition was run as part of the Charles Dickens 200th birthday celebrations, and 2012 also marks 175 years since Oliver Twist was first published. The challenge was to create a cover which represented a modern twist on the spirit of the original story.

Alexandros, who moved from Greece to Wolverhampton to study photography, said: “What I like most about the book is the dark atmosphere which is skilfully combined with a dreamy sensation. So in my photograph I wanted to achieve the same atmosphere as the atmosphere Dickens’ creates in the novel. "

My success in the contest is a result of a great deal of effort, in which my tutor Su Fahy supports me a lot."

It has been a particularly successful start to the year for the 25-year-old who won a Royal Photographic Society competition in January to receive an individual portfolio review with the Senior Art Director from Getty Images.

Alexandros was one of five people selected for this prestigious opportunity. The School of Art & Design student said: “I received very positive feedback on my portfolio, and they gave me an enlightening presentation of various alternatives that I could follow.

"It was in 2008 when I became a member of the Cultural Union of Students of the University of Athens that I became more intensively interested in photography.

“My portfolio is an effort to understand the photographic language and the potential of the medium. To me, the whole power of photography starts from its ability to transform the things that it depicts.”

To see more of Alexandros work please visit: www.alexpanagio.portfoliobox.net

ENDS

Picture: The new cover of Oliver Twist, featuring Alexandros Panagiotopoulos’ image

For more information please contact Vickie Warren in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736