A YORKSHIRE arts festival has won a top prize.

Harrogate International Festivals has scooped the Best Achievement of the Year award at the Harrogate Hospitality and Tourism Awards 2022.

Staged in the town’s Royal Hall, the sell-out dinner and awards ceremony was organised by the Harrogate Hospitality & Tourism Association (HHTA), and hosted by Simon Cotton and David Ritson from the group.

The arts charity was awarded for their event, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival last year.

The literary festival was held over four days and had been reorganised many times due to changing Covid restrictions at the time.

It is the world’s largest celebration of crime fiction and each year attracts thousands of fans of the genre – plus a host of top authors – to the spa town.

In their submission, the charity said: “The success of the festival was also due in no small part to the commitment of our team – only one of whom had worked on the Festival in previous years.”

Harrogate International Festivals chief executive Sharon Canavar said: “We are thrilled to have won this award and it’s a testament to the hard work, creativity and can do approach of ‘Team HIF’.”

Harrogate International Festivals and this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is available from its website: https://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/