Villagers and councillors across the county gathered for a celebration of community as the winners of Dorset’s Best Village Competition were announced.

The Dorset Echo-backed competition has running for the past 30 years and after a long judging process culminated in an awards ceremony at Cerne Abbas village hall on Tuesday night.

Taking home the prize for Best Small Village 2017 was the West Dorset village Puncknowle, with the Best Large Village award going to Iwerne Minster in North Dorset.

Each year the contest is organised by Dorset Community Action, a voluntary organisation that receives sponsorship from Magna Housing alongside Dorset County Council, Dorset Waste Partnership, and other local businesses.

Competition organiser Rita Burden said: “The main aim of this competition is to encourage villages to share with others their community spirit and receive awards for their sterling efforts.

“This, I am happy to say, has been achieved again this year.”

Collecting the Best Large Village award on behalf of Iwerne Minster was councillor Kerry O’Connor.

She said: “I am very overwhelmed. It is a real pleasure, Iwerne Minster has supported this event since it very first started, and, if I am correct, I think we won the best village award that year.

“We support the awards every year, to be honest, just to be involved and support everyone whether we come home with something or not.

“We love our sense of community, that is why we live there, and it is just nice to be recognised for that.”

Other award categories in the competition included The People’s Project Award, Environmental Champions, Best Village Shop, and a new category, the Young People’s Award.

Councillor Geoffrey Fry, who collected Puncknowle’s award, said: “I am just so pleased for the village really. We are only a very small village and a lot of people have put in a lot of effort this year.”

Chief executive of Magna Housing Graham Colls said the awards were a “great initiative.”

He said: “It is one of the best examples in Dorset of what some people call ‘civil society’, or in other words ordinary people working together for everyone’s benefit.”