The winners of a new competition which invited amateur and professional photographers to enter photos celebrating living, working and exploring east Suffolk have been announced.

The five-week long competition, which ran during August and early September, was organised for the first time by Suffolk Coastal and Waveney District Councils.

Entrants were invited to submit their photos to the councils under four categories; living in east Suffolk, working in east Suffolk and exploring east Suffolk. There was also a category for under 16s.

Last month, the entries were judged by TJ Haworth-Culf, cabinet member for customers, communities and leisure at Suffolk Coastal and Michael Ladd, cabinet member for tourism and economic development at Waveney District Council.

The winner of the living category was Gav Elliott with his picture of Orford lighthouse, with Julia Penson as runner up with her Lowestoft photo.

Matthew James took the top spot in the working category with his photo of Aldeburgh fishing boats, with Chris Arnold's harvest at Shipmeadow shot taking second place.

For the explore category, Ben Alder took the crown for his Woodbridge photo, with Charlotte Ford announced as runner up for her picture of Covehithe Church.

And in the under 16a category, Jake Lain won with his shot of Kessingland Beach, with Jack Ibbotson taking second place for his photo of Felixstowe.

In a joint statement the judges said: 'We were overwhelmed by the amount and the quality of the entries, especially given that this was the inaugural competition.

'It was incredibly difficult to choose the winning photos as all the entries highlight East Suffolk as a beautiful and interesting place to live, work and visit however we felt that the chosen winners really captured the spirit of the area and the relevant categories.

'We would like to thank everyone who took part and we look forward to running the competition again in future.'

Entries were submitted through email and the councils' joint Instagram account using #eastsuffolkphotocomp.

Each winner will receive a shopping voucher and all the winners and runners up will receive a framed copy of their photo. The winning photos will also be displayed at the councils' East Suffolk House in Melton and Riverside offices in Lowestoft.

Suffolk Coastal and Waveney District Councils have been working in partnership since 2008 and are working to create a new, single 'super district' council for east Suffolk.