NORTH Yorkshire taxidermist Carl Church is celebrating an international win after seeing off more than 100 other competitors.

Carl flew to Illinois, USA, with his model of a stuffed hooded crow perched on a gargoyle head of Charles Darwin to compete in the World Show last month.

The haunting exhibit, complete with icicles, scored an impressive 98 per cent with the judges, earning the Pickering man a blue ribbon and first prize.

"The actual banquet when they gave out the awards is a bit like the Oscars," said Carl.

"Suddenly there was a picture of my work at the front, and I was in a spotlight on a screen with a bottle of beer in my hand.

"I was in a great deal of shock because the bird I took had taken a real pounding in the hold of the plane."

Carl, who has been practising taxidermy for about seven years, and now works full-time, said winning at the World Show had been an amazing experience.

"I was going to sell my work over there and I was talking to one of the judges who asked me if he could buy it," he said.

"He gave me his business card and I saw it was for the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.

"I could have got 1,000 dollars for it, which is about £700 and a lot more than I could have got over here, but I donated it to the Museum because to have my work there is a real honour."

Carl spent 200 hours on the exhibit and modelled six birds before he was happy with the result.

"I got the idea from the thought of crows hanging around cathedrals and monuments, and a friend visited St Petersburg and described them over there," he said.

"The judging in America is a lot stricter than it is over here, so the bird had to be as perfect as I could get it."

Updated: 09:39 Saturday, May 24, 2003