A pair of Ilkley photographers have earned top three prizes in a national Rugby Photograph of the Year competition.

Matthew Lewis, 23, and Ben Duffy, 28, both of Simon Wilkinson Photography, Ilkley have won second and third places respectively in the colour and black and white categories of the Zurich UK event.

They were accompanied by boss Simon Wilkinson for a lavish presentation in London last Tuesday when the winners were announced by England coach Clive Woodward and James Hill, Zurich's corporate marketing director.

Mr Lewis's colour entry shows England and Leicester Tigers player Martin Johnson attempting to appear the picture of innocence during a match. Mr Duffy's monochrome composition, meanwhile, is a close-up portrait of another Leicester player, Martin Corry, covered in mud.

Speaking after the awards, Mr Wilkinson said: "Matthew won the Image of the Games competition earlier in the year for taking the best shot of the Commonwealth Games, and he just keeps going from strength to strength.

"He's actually a Leicester fan so this was a good photograph for him to win something with, it's a very funny picture and like Ben's it doesn't just show the sport, but has something for non-sport fans too. To do well again is great for the business because we are a local company who have taken on the world and, if not quite beaten them, then done really well.

"The photography market is getting tighter and tighter all the time so things like this obviously help."

Mr Duffy and Mr Lewis's efforts were chosen out of more than 200 entries submitted by professional sports photographers for the inaugural competition by Zurich, which sponsors the English Rugby Union Premiership.

Their photographs are now part of a special exhibition of 49 action shots being held in London, and which will be on show to thousands of rugby fans at Twickenham Stadium during May, June and July 2003.