From a dog looking like it is wearing a hat and about to play a guitar, to sweaty musicians, this year's Dereham Blues Festival photographic competition once again brought in some top class entries.

Eastern Daily Press: Portrait of Simon Lovick taken by Sally Ann Ling, winner of Best Portrait of a Musician.Portrait of Simon Lovick taken by Sally Ann Ling, winner of Best Portrait of a Musician. (Image: Sally Ann Ling)

For the second year the organisers of the annual festival invited their audience to get involved and their photos revealed some fascinating views of the musical event.

Headline sponsor of the festival, Busseys of Norfolk, helped with the judging of the entries with best image of a musician awarded to Sally Ann Ling.

She used a Canon EOS 100D to take the the winning photograph, a portrait of singer Simon Lovick, on the Saturday evening when the After Hoursblues band were playing at the Cherry Tree pub.

Ms Ling said: 'Simon joined the band and sang a few numbers, and his character immediately stood out to me, as did his excellent voice.'

Eastern Daily Press: 'Doggone Blues' taken by Carolyn Coleman, winner of Best Audience / Festival Vibe picture'Doggone Blues' taken by Carolyn Coleman, winner of Best Audience / Festival Vibe picture (Image: Carolyn Coleman)

The runner up was a portrait of Adam from The Bad Day Blues Band playing at The Kings Head on the opening Thursday evening. This moody, blues photograph was captured by Melodie Strawbridge.

Best image of the audience or festival vibe was awarded to Carolyn Coleman for her photo of a dog in the audience.

Organiser Stewart Aitken said: 'There were many great photos of people enjoying the fabulous blues music that we had over the weekend in July but two in particular stood out and it was a close call.

'The runner up in this category is a candid shot of two bikers outside one of our venues, taken by Kathy Avery.'

Eastern Daily Press: Melodie Strawbridge's original photo of Adam Rigg in a 'blues mood' (runner up Best Portrait of a Musician)Melodie Strawbridge's original photo of Adam Rigg in a 'blues mood' (runner up Best Portrait of a Musician) (Image: Melodie Strawbridge)

The winners received their prizes from Dereham Blues Festival founding member, Doreen Aitken at the Norfolk Blues Society Jam session at The Swan Inn in Gressenhall.

Blues festival chairman Mark Gregory said: 'The winners and runners up this year have created some very high quality images.'

Total Photography produced and sponsored this year's prizes which were canvas style giclée prints of the winning images.

The photos can all be seen on the Dereham Blues Festival Facebook group page here.

Eastern Daily Press: Kathy Avery's image of bikers outside a venue (runner up Best Audience / Festival Vibe picture)Kathy Avery's image of bikers outside a venue (runner up Best Audience / Festival Vibe picture) (Image: Kathy Avery)

Next year's festival will take place from Thursday, July 12 to Sunday, July 15.

For more information visit the website here.