HUNDREDS of meat pies, sausages, burgers, and black puddings filled Bradford's Cedar Court Hotel during the hunt for the county's very finest pork products yesterday.

The 26th Great Yorkshire Pork Pie, Sausage & Products Competition, organised by the Confederation of Yorkshire Butchers Councils (CYBC), attracted entries from top butchers, bakers and farm shops across the region.

CYBC president and Keighley butcher Roy Dykes said the contest, which is the UK's biggest regional meat trades competition, was the one everyone wanted to take a prize in.

"The standard has been really high again this year, and the competition has gone really well, with some great entries," he said.

"It's always very difficult to judge, we're looking for consistency, and to be in with a chance of winning any of the categories, you need to have pretty much a perfect product.

"This is the competition that everybody wants to win, it's the most prestigious, and this year's turnout has been great."

More than 40 businesses from across the county showcased their products, with more than 250 individual entries across ten classes.

The most sought-after titles are the supreme champion trophies, and in among a host of wins across other categories, Keelham Farm Shop, in Thornton, scooped the prize for supreme champion pie, taking home the Ted Jones trophy.

The shop's butcher manager, Lee Scott, said: "We've been butchering at Keelham for donkey's years, but we've taken over a small pie bakery a couple of miles away that was going to close.

"We took the helm and bought the rights for the name and recipes.

"This year we changed the jelly for the pies from last year, and it's been really successful.

"The judges said they sampled ours in the middle of about 40 pies and it stood out a mile.

"I don't know what the secret was, but we're absolutely thrilled."

Mr Scott added that the business was due to open a new shop in Skipton which would be supplied with a stock of the new award-winning pies.

Family-run firm B&M Collins, of Westgate, Cleckheaton, followed up a win in last year's best small pork pie competition by triumphing in the black pudding section and finishing runner-up in the category for speciality pork pie.

"It's my brother Michael who makes them, but we also help out," said Mary Johnson, attending the competition with Marjorie Collins.

"With the pie, the judges said it was superb and very close to the winner. It's the first time we've done a mini-pie with a quail egg inside, so we're really pleased.

"We'll be here again next year, going for supreme champion."