The cream of Midlands press photography has been recognised at the eighth annual Banks’s Midlands Press Photographer Awards.

Twenty prizes were handed during a presentation at Edgbaston cricket ground, and the winners included Max Ewen of the Leicester Mercury.

He was named Banks’s Press Photographer of the Year for his portfolio of five pictures, which included the one below, and also took the award for Banks’s best News Picture.

Meanwhile, his colleague Emily Barber was named Banks’s Young Photographer of the Year, and the Mercury’s Mike Sewell was named joint winner of the Banks’s best Queen’s Golden Jubilee Picture (below), along with Paul Pickard from The Sentinel.

The awards attracted a huge number of entries this year from 28 newspapers in the Midlands, and every aspect of press photography, from news and features to sport and community, is recognised.

The judges were Martin Keene from the Press Association, Bob Kirwin from The Times and Peter Jackson from Banks’s with Jeremy Eaton from Vital as judge adjudicator.

A full list of winners is below:

Banks’s Press Photographer of the Year
Winner: Max Ewen, Leicester Mercury
Runners up: Vivienne Hutchings, Express & Star. Martin Elliott, Derby Evening Telegraph

Banks’s Weekly Press Photographer of the Year
Winner: Darren Quinton, Sunday Mercury
Runners up: Allan Williamson, Lichfield Mercury

Banks’s Freelance Photographer of the Year
Winner: Phillip Riley
Runners up: Edward Moss

Banks’s Features Photographer of the Year
Winner: Trevor Roberts, Birmingham Evening Mail
Runners up: Martin Elliott, Derby Evening Telegraph. Darren Quinton, Sunday Mercury

Banks’s Sports Photographer of the Year
Winner: David Bagnall, Express & Star
Runners up: Sam Bagnall, Sunday Mercury. Richard Nelmes, Coventry Evening Telegraph

Banks’s Young Photographer of the Year
Winner: Emily Barber, Leicester Mercury
Runners up: Clare Lewis The Sentinel, Stoke.

Banks’s best News Picture
Winner: Max Ewen, Leicester Mercury
Runners up: Sam Bagnall, Sunday Mercury. Emily Barber, Leicester Mercury. Paul Pickard, The Sentinel, Stoke.

Banks’s best Queen’s Golden Jubilee Picture
Joint Winners: Mike Sewell, Leicester Mercury. Paul Pickard, The Sentinel, Stoke.

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