Julia receives �2,000 prize.

A Payhembury teenager has won an international accolade after wowing a panel of industry judges with her artwork.

Julia Whiting, a former student of St Margaret’s School in Exeter, was named the overall winner of this year’s Saatchi Gallery and Sunday Telegraph prize for schools at a ceremony last week.

The 19-year-old received �2,000 and the school’s art department was awarded �10,000 to spend on art and computer equipment.

Julia’s award-winning Indian ink drawings of trees were the culmination of her A-level coursework, which was an extensive study of the natural world.

Julia said: “My idea was to use a poignant memory, which in my case was of the trees on a childhood walk, and create a sense of space to involve the viewer by representing this experience.”

Her work will now go on display in the gallery alongside the other shortlisted entries.

She is now studying art at Falmouth Art College.