A Wymondham High School student has been awarded a top prize in a regional painting competition.

Seventeen-year-old Jessica Stratton was crowned the winner of East Anglian Schools Portrait Prize following an exhibition of shortlisted entries at the Anteros Arts Foundation in Norwich.

The student's painting of a figure holding a mirror in front of his face in which another person's eyes are reflected was chosen as the winner by arts foundation director John Hemmant and guest judge Ivy Smith.

The sixth form student, who is intending to go to university next year, was awarded her prize of art materials, donated by Jarrolds last week, and will also have her own portrait painted by Anteros artist in residence Will Teather.

Judge Ivy Smith said: 'I felt Jessica Stratton deserved the prize for her ambitious portrait, for its expression of an idea beyond representation, although there is still a strong feeling for a particular person, for her broad handling of paint and use of unnatural colours, rather than over attention to a photographic reality.'