Jordi Ruiz Cirera, a recent graduate from the MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, at the London College of Communication (LCC) has been named as the Association of Photographers (AOP) 2012 Student Photographer of the Year.

Ruiz Cirera’s series of portraits of members of the Mennonite communities in Eastern Bolivia, a project he began on the Masters degree at LCC, won him the top prize.

As the overall winner, Ruiz Cirera took home a fantastic array of prizes including a limited edition black Finepix X100 digital camera supplied by Fujifilm, a full day’s work experience with highly acclaimed photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten, a bespoke portfolio supplied by Delta Design Studio and a year’s mentoring scheme with Harry Hardie, Director and Founder of Here.

“Winning Student Photographer of the Year is an amazing accolade, because the AOP is the most prestigious UK organisation for professional photographers,” Ruiz Cirera says.  “This is going to be a really useful foot in the door to the industry.”

The AOP Student Award completes a trio of successes for Ruiz Cirera, adding to an Honourable Mention in the 2012 Magenta Flash Forward Emerging Photographers and the 2012 LPA Student Challenge. See more of his work at www.jordiruizcirera.com