A Haringey student who captured the essence of community groups in a series of intimate shots has won an award for her work.

Joanne Coates, who lives in Manor House, beat almost 100 other entrants to win the competition, organised by Skipton Building Society, to raise the profile of voluntary organisations.

The organisation previously gave £500 to 160 deserving groups and then launched a photography competition for students to capture the organisations in action.

Social documentary photographer Joanne, a student at the University of The Arts, in London, entered the competition after hearing about it through Twitter but was unanimously crowned the winner by judges last week.

The 24-year-old said: “It was such an inspiration to be involved in the project. It’s a really good cause and it’s really interesting to see the diverse range of community groups.

“It was an amazing opportunity to work with the volunteers of the groups to see the hard work they put in to developing their local communities.”