An artist has won national acclaim for photographs of dead animals.

For two months, Simon Ward, 24, kept his freezer stocked with a pheasant, a headless turkey and a lamb's heart. He also once brought home a dead cat found on a street near his home.

Simon, of Hollingbury Park Avenue, Brighton, collected the tiny corpses as a photography student and resurrected them on film for his final-year degree show.

The contorted, yet strangely serene, bodies were photographed on a flat-bed scanner, producing the bold, if shocking, images.

The pictures have now earned him first place in a national competition for young creative talent.

Simon was named best photographer at the Re:creation Awards by a panel of judges, including media celebrity Janet Street-Porter, photographer Rankin and musician Badly Drawn Boy.

Despite graduating only last year, the award is Simon's second after he scooped the Young Turner Prize in October.

His photograph of a lamb's heart is also due to feature in the International Open Image Competition at London's Deluxe Gallery this month.

Simon said: "The last year has been amazing. When I sent the photographs in to the Re:creation competition, I thought nothing of it. I had forgotten I had even done it when I got the phone call telling me I had won.

"I was gobsmacked. Now I feel completely overwhelmed by all that is happening to me. I'm trying to keep calm but I can't help but be excited by all that has happened."

Simon is temping at American Express in Brighton but hopes the latest award will launch his photographic career.

The inspiration for his work, which he completed at Nottingham Trent University last year, was 18th Century still life paintings, which often featured dead game.

He was given the pheasant by a friend who lives on a farm and the lamb's heart and turkey were donated by a butcher.

They were kept in his freezer, to the horror of his house mates, in case he needed to rescan them.

The cat was found outside a friend's house. Despite putting posters up to find the feline's owners, they never came forward.

Simon said: "There is an ongoing debate about the extent photographs desensitise us and that is something I wanted to explore. I suppose I wanted to find out how far I could desensitise myself.

"Lots of people could not handle dead animals and do the things I did. I admit I found it hard but I made myself do it to see how far I could push myself.

"To me, the pictures almost do not look real. They look like paintings. Although they are dead, they seem to have a quality of life about them.

"The cat picture is the most controversial of the collection because it was somebody's pet and I am sure some people will find it hard to look at.

"Having said that, out of all the pictures, a lot of people single the cat out as the most beautiful."

Born and raised in Brighton, Simon attended Varndean College in Hove and said his tutors there gave him confidence in his work.

He is not the only Brighton student to be recognised by the Re:creation Awards.

Erica Donovan, who spent a year studying foundation art at Brighton College in 1999, was also a winner.

The 23-year-old, who lives in Tunbridge Wells, won the graphic design award with fellow graduate Matthew Green, from Cambridge.

Erica created three fly posters under the theme Beauty Is In The Street.

Two posters depict a child encouraging passers-by to follow their gaze while the third is an empty picture frame.

Erica said: "The designs are very simple. The posters act as contemporary signage encouraging direction rather than focusing on elaborate imagery.

"The outcome is that you gaze where the two children are gazing and appreciate whatever it may be they are looking at.

"The frames are quite self explanatory. They can be used to frame anything and everything that is beautiful."

Erica, who is working at a print production centre, is hoping to set up her own graphic design studio with Matthew in London.

The awards ceremony took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London yesterday.