A picture of the Prince of Wales visiting a cheese factory has been named the best regional press photograph of royalty in the past year.

The image of Prince Charles, below, by the Yorkshire Post’s Gary Longbottom, was crowned Best Regional/Local Newspaper Rota Photo by the News Media Association.

The NMA launched its inaugural Royal Rota photogrpahy competition earlier this year – with photographers invited to submit their best pictures of royal engagements from the past year.

One of the NMA’s roles is to manage the Royal Rota – a system for covering Royal engagements and pooling material between newspapers.

All the winners will receive a prize of vouchers for photography equipment.

The entries were judged by Nigel Atherton, IPC Media photography portfolio group editor, Paul Jarrett, Wire Photo Association secretary, Jeff Moore, The British Press Photographers’ Association chairman, and Lynne Anderson, NMA deputy chief executive.

Said Jeff: “It’s great to see such fine work by photographers across the UK from the regions to the nationals, proving yet again to my mind that photographic journalism is still the most effective way of storytelling in the media.

“The overall standard was very high and it was good to see so many entries from the regions, giving us an insight into the day to day lives of the members of our Royal Family.”