Image of castle scoops landscape photography prize

An image of Corfe Castle on a frosty morning has scooped the top prize in this year's Landscape Photographer of the Year award, it was announced today.

The atmospheric shot of the Dorset castle was selected from thousands of entries portraying urban and rural landscapes and secured the £10,000 overall prize for local photographer Antony Spencer.

The Young Landscape Photographer of the Year award, for young people aged 16 and under, went to Taliesin Coombes for his image of a steam train leaving Cardiff station in Wales, the competition's organisers said.

Other images singled out for recognition in the awards include shots of the Isle of Eigg in Scotland, urban areas and Romney Marsh in Kent.

This year the awards are being held in association with Network Rail and Government conservation agency Natural England. Two special categories were included in the competition as a result.

The Natural England 'landscape on your doorstep' award was won by Slawek Staszczuk for his picture of the South Downs, while Network Rail's 'lines in the landscape' prize went to Chris Howe's shot of Grindleford Station in the Peak District National Park.

Helen Phillips, chief executive of Natural England, said: "This year's extraordinary collection of images captures the tremendous variety of landscapes in this country and helps us appreciate the role they play as natural support systems - filtering and storing water, holding fertile soils, locking in climate changing carbon, soaking up floodwater and buffering coastal storms.

"The awards are a reminder of how valuable our landscapes are and how important it is that we look after them."

The Take a View - Landscape Photographer of the Year awards are in their fourth year and were founded by photographer Charlie Waite to celebrate photography of the UK landscape.

More than 100 of the best images will be displayed in a free exhibition at the National Theatre in London from November 22, while a book featuring more than 170 entries is published on October 31.

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