Suilven. Photo: Bocian &Tusia

A Canadian-born man’s personal view of a Sutherland peak has won the Wild Writing Competition.

The contest, sponsored by the John Muir Trust, forms part of the Fort William Mountain Festival. Kelso-based Tom Bryan picked up first prize for his short piece Seven Ways of Looking at Suilven.

Second place went to Alan Gay of North Berwick for his poem Deer Path. The award for a Gaelic entry was won by Neil McRae from Skye with his story Doilleireachd an T-Sleibhe.

The competition is now in its third year and encourages aspiring and professional writers to submit entries about Scotland’s landscapes and wild places.

Mr Bryan wins a place on a writing course at Moniack Mhor, the writers’ centre near Inverness.

His entry, an account of seven ascents of Suilven seven times, both physically and figuratively, was chosen by judges Hamish MacDonald and Linda Cracknell from more than 100 submitted pieces.

Ms Cracknell said: “The entries took us to wild places all over Scotland, Britain and the world.

“The winners for me were personal, immediate and poetic with a touch of mystery in the landscapes and the human responses they portrayed.”

There were twice as many vying for the award as in 2008.

Alison Austin, the brainchild of the competition and Nevis conservation officer for the JMT, said: “The wild writing competition was set up to highlight people’s experiences of wild places.

“I hope that more and more emerging writers who feel passionate about exploring and enjoying our incredible landscape will take part in the coming years.”

The judges highly commended three other writers: Kate Blackadder from Edinburgh for Oldshoremore, Stephen Busby from Findhorn for All Exhilaration and Jenny Holden from Onich for The Climb.

Runners up for the Gaelic category were Tearlach Quinell from Inverness and Derek Mackay from Glasgow.