The Motor Sports Association (MSA) is pleased to announce that William Neill has been named the Renault MSA Young Motor Sport Photographer of the Year.

Established in 2002 in association with Renault UK, the award is designed to find and recognise the most promising British motor sport photographers aged 25 or under.

Neill, aged 18 from Co. Armagh in Northern Ireland, impressed the panel of judges with his selection of rally photographs, including images that were published on the cover of Pacenotes Rally Magazine and in the Daily Mirror earlier this year.

Neill said: “I’m delighted to have won the Renault MSA Young Motor Sport Photographer of the Year award.I started going to motor sport events with my dad when I was 14, and I also had an interest in photography so I decided to put the two together. Several past winners have gone on to great things so I’m sure that winning the award will be a springboard for my future career.”

MSA Chief Executive Colin Hilton said: “The panel of judges for this year’s competition decided that William’s portfolio best encompassed what the competition is all about. To have had his photographs printed on the cover of a magazine and within a national newspaper at just 18 years of age is highly impressive, and the judges had nothing but praise for the quality of his work.”

Neill will collect a trophy and a cheque for £1000 at the MSA’s Night of Champions ceremony at the Royal Automobile Club in London on 21 January 2011.

Previous winners:

2009: Dominic Romney, freelance

2008: Drew Gibson, LAT

2007: Drew Gibson, LAT

2006: Michael Hoyer, freelance

2005: Gavin Ireland, Racecar Engineering

2004: Glenn Dunbar, LAT

2003: Jonathan MacDonald, Pacenotes

2002: Jakob Ebrey, Jakob Ebrey Photographic