A TALENTED teenager from York has won the first prize in a national travel photography competition.

Seventeen-year-old Aiden Heeley-Hill who is a sixth former at York’s Huntington School scooped first prize in the Insight Guides’ annual travel photography competition.

Aiden, of Strensall, developed an enthusiasm for photography on holiday.

His winning images were all taken at the North Cape in Norway, the most northerly point of Europe, where he went with his family in August. Aiden, who is studying the international baccalaureate at Huntington, said: “I took up photography as a hobby when I went on holiday two years’ ago to the Baltic and it dawned on me that I quite liked it. I was looking at photography competitions and entered this one, but I was really surprised when I won. I guess the photos I submitted were something a bit different and I just liked the ruggedness and bleakness of the North Cape. I really like photography and now I am keen to take it further.”

As well as a Canon SX120 IS camera, Aiden won the opportunity to spend time with an Independent On Sunday photographer.

The competition invited both professional and amateur photographers to submit three images that captured the essence of a destination, using “earth” as the theme.

For the first time, the competition was opened up to under 18s. Entries were judged by a panel made up of the picture editors of both the Independent On Sunday and Insight Guides, and a former Trustee of the Royal Photographic Society.