KEEN amateur photographers have captured the special qualities of the Howardian Hills.

Last September, Rural Action Yorkshire, the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the Yorkshire Arboretum launched the first-ever Howardian Hills photography competition.

Maggie Farey, North Yorkshire development officer for Rural Action Yorkshire, said: “All photographs entered had to be taken within the Howardian Hills’ Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, providing great scope for seasonal images of a beautiful and diverse area.

“Entries were welcomed under the themes of landscape, flora and fauna, history and heritage, and living and working in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, along with a category for photographers under 17, who submitted entries showing what was special to them about the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.”

Photos by category finalists and winners are on display at The Yorkshire Arboretum visitor centre.

Maggie said: “We had about 160 entries in the adult categories, the standard of the photographs was extremely high, with stunning photos on a wide variety of subjects.

“All the finalists photos were very good and choosing an overall winner and runner-up was extremely difficult.

“The finalists invited to the exhibition opening and prize-giving event at The Yorkshire Arboretum last Wednesday evening and enjoyed the opportunity to see their own and other competition entries on display.”

The competition was sponsored by Castle Howard, the Joe Cornish Gallery, the Forestry Commission, McLarron’s Insurance, Vivarti, HPE and Fruit Photo Art (Norton Framing).

Prizes were awarded to category winners with both the overall winner and runner-up also being presented with framed copies of their photographs, printed and framed by Fruit Photo Art.

Other prizes included:

• Season ticket donated by Castle Howard – presented to Howard Wallis, winner in the History and Heritage category, who was also overall winner for his stunning photo of Castle Howard in the snow

• Season ticket for Dalby Forest donated by the Forestry Commission – presented to Paul Rookes, winner in the Flora and Fauna category, who was also overall runner-up for his detailed close-up of Magpie fungus

• Landscape photography book donated by Joe Cornish Gallery – presented to Tim Burkinshaw, winner in the Landscape category

• Photographic accessories funded by McLarron’s Insurance – presented to David Siddle, winner in the Living and Working category

• Printing vouchers donated by HPE, were presented to Emily Hardaker, for her winning entry, and also to Ruth Conlan, runner-up in in the Young Photographer category

•  Harry Kingman received a prize of photographic equipment for being a finalist in each adult category.

All of the finalists received framed prints of their photographs, with frames kindly provided by Vivarti, powered by Athena.