The winner of one of the biggest poetry prizes in the UK, the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, has been announced in Edinburgh.

Penny Boxall, from Aberdeenshire, has won the £20,000 first prize in the awards designed specifically for young poets, for her first collection, Ship of the Line.

The book, published by Eyewear, was described as "beautifully crafted" by judges.

The awards were made last night at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Jackie Kay, the Makar and one of the judges of the prize alongside Stewart Conn, former Edinburgh Makar, said: "Penny Boxall runs a tight ship.

"Her poems are beautifully crafted. Reading her is to go on an interesting journey of exploration - stopping at fascinating places along the way.

"She has a curator's mind and is always putting one thing beside another in an unexpected way."

The runner up is Miriam Nash, from Inverness, who receives £2,500 for her collection All The Prayers In The House, which will be published by Bloodaxe in 2017.

Mr Conn added: "Miriam Nash's poems provide pleasure through the variety and veracity of their subject matter, her insight and freshness of approach, and the warmth she breathes into them."

The other short listed poets for the award, which is organised by the Scottish Poetry Library, were Claire Askew, Sophie Collins, Harry Giles and Stewart Sanderson.

Professor James McGonigal, chair of the Edwin Morgan Trust, said: "The Award is central to our work, and it is a real pleasure to be able to offer young poets of this calibre the chance to develop in new directions.

"This was Morgan's vision in funding the award, and his lasting gift to new generations of poets."

The poetry prize was set up by the Trust established after the death of Morgan, Scotland's first modern day Makar, who died in 2010.

The prizes are only available to writers under the age of 30.

With a first prize of £20,000 it is one of the biggest in the UK, on a par with the TS Eliot prize, and more than the Forward Prize, which awards £15,000.