Malta Arts scholarship student Viorica Naudi was awarded a Higher National Diploma in art and design from West Cheshire College, UK, with distinction.

She came top of her year, winning a major photographic competition and having her work critically acclaimed and put on public display.

In September 2014, Naudi was awarded one of six Malta Arts scholarships. The arts scholarships scheme is designed to provide opportunities to support talented individuals in theatre, music, dance, design, creative writing, film and the visual arts.

Naudi only started to learn how to use a camera in 2012. Originally a chef in a two-Rosette hotel in North Wales and a member of the Welsh Culinary Society, when she returned to Malta in 2013, photography had become her passion and she decided to complete a full-time HND in the UK. Aged 55, she returned to full-time study as a mature student.

After moving to Chester, one of her early projects for West Cheshire College was a theme related to a visit to Cluj and parts of Transylvania.

Images from her photographic visit to Transylvania were exhibited at the Funky Aardvark Gallery in Chester for aspiring artists.

Three photo journals by Naudi between 2014 and 2015 were also published in The Sunday Times of Malta Travel section.

Last February, the Chester Photographic Society encouraged Naudi to enter one of its annual competitions and one her images, a night shot of a sweet stall taken in a Marrakech souk, won in the Best Open section together with another image of a woman praying in a church in Transylvania.

Naudi is currently planning her next photo trip to the Danube Delta by the Black Sea, a Unesco preserved wildlife area.

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