ELY snapper Ian Kippax was crowned the overall winner of National Historic Ships UK photography competition at a prestigious awards ceremony in London.

The award ceremony took place onboard HMS Belfast on the River Thames with guest of honour the Princess Royal presenting Ian with his award.

Mr Kippax was selected as the winner of the Classic Boat category and was also named as overall winner for 2012 with his image, Scorpio, being chosen from more than 450 entries.

He was awarded a �1,000 prize that can be spent directly on one of the vessels on the National Register of Historic Vessels of his choice. A copy of Scorpio was also presented to The Princess Royal as a commemorative gift.

Ian said, “As an obsessive photographer and maritime enthusiast this was the perfect competition for me and I’m delighted that my image was picked from the hundreds of entries.

“This is the third year that I’ve entered the competition – I always try and take photos wherever I go and on a weekend away I was still determined to do so, even in the pouring rain, which added to the mood of Scorpio.”

Competition judge Geoff Holt said, “Despite the many wonderful images we had to choose from, the winning picture stood out from the start. It is a very powerful, almost haunting photograph, which captured the interest of all the judges.”

Visit www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk to see all this year’s entries.