Two of the 12 national winners in the British Institute of Professional Photography awards come from north Norfolk.

Eastern Daily Press: Janice AlamanouJanice Alamanou (Image: Archant)

Salthouse-based portrait photographer Karen Wortley won the Open Award for her fine art photo-series Solid Geometries, and Wells-based landscape photographer Janice Alamanou won a Merit award in Visual Arts for her black and white panoramic landscapes.

Bella West, chairman of The BIPP, said: 'In this year's competition the judging panel have been extraordinarily harsh. Only 12 photographers have received awards for their outstanding photographic work.'

Miss Wortley is a fine-art inspired, creative portrait photographer working out of London and East Anglia, whose passion is people and stories.

She said: 'To be presented with this award is such a great honour. It's strange how echoes of Maths from back in my undergraduate days studying economics at LSE have managed to find their way so strongly into my photographic work.

Eastern Daily Press: Beneath the tide by Janice Alamanou.Beneath the tide by Janice Alamanou. (Image: Copyright © Janice Alamanou)

'This series began very much as a personal project, creating large-scale, experimental images from elements of the landscape, but it seems that number, symmetry and pattern have found a real resonance with people.'

Ms Alamanou said her winning entry was for her portfolio 'The White Collection', which features black on white panoramics of Norfolk.

She is a self-taught photographer, having photographed from a very early age, qualified through her work with the BIPP and has won the Moscow International Foto Awards every year since 2014.

Brought up on the wind-swept shores of the north Norfolk coast it is no surprise that her photography is inspired by the elements. Her unique beautiful images now exhibit worldwide.

The BIPP was founded in 1901, and is an internationally recognised not-for-profit organisation which delivers education, qualifications and professional development to photographers.

Miss Wortley's winning images can be viewed as part of her Norfolk Open Studios exhibition, which opens in Salthouse on Saturday. May 27. Ms Alamanou's winning images can be viewed at her gallery, Coastal Photography, in Wells.

Have you won a national award? Email david.bale2@archant.co.uk