Writers from Edinburgh dominated the winners' list. Photo: Ad Meskens CC-BY-SA-3.0

Capital writers came out tops in a mountaineering literature competition.

Four of the six winners in the Mountaineering Council of Scotland’s annual writing contest hailed from Edinburgh.

First in the prose category was Nancy Somerville, of Murieston Road, and the first second and third in the poetry category were Claire Askew, of Warriston Drive; Russell Jones, of Dalgety Street, and Marjorie Gill, of Lauder Road.

The two non-Edinburgh winners were second-equal in the prose section: Edward Shelley, from West Kilbride, and George Gall, from Gateside, near Cupar.

The first prize in the prose category was a cheque for £150 and tickets for the 2016 Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival, with the top poem winning £100 and tickets for the festival.

The competition is open to anyone as long as there is some relevance to mountains and mountaineering, and regularly attracts entries from all over Britain. Judging is blind, with neither names nor addresses known to the judges while they make their decisions.

The independent panel of judges read through more than 50 entries, fairly evenly split between prose and poetry.

The winning entries will be published in the February edition of the MCofS membership magazine, Scottish Mountaineer, and can be seen on the council’s website.