A BUDDING film-maker from Trafford has scooped a top award inspired by legendary documentary maker Alan Whicker.

Former Altrincham Boys' Grammr pupil Alex Bescoby has won the £80,000 funding Whicker’s World Foundation Award at Doc/Fest in Sheffield for his documentary Burma’s Lost Royals - just two years after he first picked up a camera.

The Whicker’s World Foundation aims to build on the legacy of celebrated journalist and broadcaster Alan Whicker who died in 2013, and these are its inaugural prizes.

Alex, 29, said after receiving the funding award prize on June 14: "I only picked up a camera two years ago and while working in Burma had an epiphany.

"This story for me opened the windows to Burma’s soul and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to tell it.”

Alex’s story, Burma’s Lost Royals, centres around a forgotten monarchy and an intriguing quest that threatens to tear a family apart.

Founder of the Whicker's World Foundation, Valerie Kleeman, photographer, programme consultant and Whicker’s partner for more than 40 years, said:: “Alan would’ve loved this story of the Burma Royals, he would have jumped at the chance to of made it himself. I look forward to viewing the finished film.”

She added: "Alan's wish was that the foundation should provide a platform for young documentary makers. He would be amazed and delighted by so much of what we have seen.  We looked for surprise and originality and have not been disappointed- the sheer variety of entries has been overwhelming, the choices agonising.  The spirit of Whicker's World is alive and flourishing in the most unexpected and inaccessible places.”