Winners of Northampton carnival photo competition coincidentally pay tribute to late costume designer

A competition run as part of Northampton Carnival’s virtual celebrations has unintentionally paid tribute to a well-known costume designer.

The carnival that was due to take place last month, was replaced by virtual celebrations, which included a photo competition that saw carnival-goers sending in their favourite images from previous years.

Both of the pictures that were chosen as winners, coincidentally, captured costumes designed by Lincoln Rahamut who passed away earlier this year.

A spokeswoman for the Northampton Carnival Arts Consortium said: “We received a total of 21 photo entries from across Northamptonshire all of whom would have been worthy winners.

“To confirm the winning finalists we were grateful to have His Worship the Mayor Cllr Brian Sargeant, Suki Somal from BBC Radio Northampton and Lindsey Ambrose who has been a valued supporter of carnival over the years in various judging capacities.”

The runner-up photo, submitted by Sharlun Watkins, is of a vibrant colourful costume called "Beauty in Perpetuity" from the 2017 parade and reflected the theme "Celebrate The Wonder of Nature."

Caroline Thomas captured the winning photo, which is of a yellow and gold costume entitled "Cleopatra - Jewel of the Nile" from four years ago

The theme in 2016 was "Five Continents... One Carnival."

The spokeswoman added: “Coincidentally both photos are of costumes designed and made by the amazingly talented carnival artist and costume designer Lincoln Rahamut who sadly passed away in May this year.

“These two beautiful costumes won the East Midlands Carnival Queen Costume Contest in 2013 and 2014 where they were presented by our Emccan partner Leicester Caribbean Carnival who are annual visitors to Northampton Carnival.

“Congratulations again to our winners and a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the first online edition of Northampton Carnival, and we look forward to a safe and hopefully Covid-free 2021.”

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