Littlehampton Town Show’s virtual competition winners announced: in pictures

In normal times, a plethora of cups and trophies would be handed out to the town’s best home-grown delights, from dahlias and roses to cacti, fruit and vegetables – and the top Victoria sandwich.

But the winning entrants this year are a much more exclusive group, after the event went virtual in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

The town show committee called for submissions in the following categories: Lockdown in the Garden, for the best garden; Lockdown in the Kitchen, for the most attractive culinary offering; Children’s Lockdown Drawing and Lockdown Photography.

A small, socially distanced prize-giving ceremony was held on Sunday at Mewsbrook Park, where mayor David Chace presented the winners with their awards.

These were: Monika Tomaszewska for Lockdown in the Garden; Karolina Forgacz for Lockdown in the Kitchen; Ruby Shepherd for Children’s Lockdown Drawing and Lilla Wantuch-Michalska for Lockdown Photography.

Pete Buckley, chairman of the town show, was also present. He said: “We are delighted how our lockdown competitions were received.

“We had 162 entries into four categories. Five entries in each of the four categories were shortlisted and an online vote took place for the winners. A massive 1,611 votes were cast to choose the winners.

“The standard of the entries were very high and the winners should be very proud of their achievements.

“Thank you to the mayor for taking time out of his busy schedule to recognise the winners in these strange times. We look forward to next year’s show and hope we will have returned to some form of normality which will enable us to run a more traditional show.”