This dramatic picture of a fire at the Royal Academy in Central London last August is today judged the overall winner in a competition designed to encourage the citizen journalist.

Lena Machmann-Morck, 31, a Norwegian living in London, watched from her office across the street in Piccadilly as firefighters tackled the blaze that threatened one of the capital’s main art collections, and captured the scene on her mobile.

She can now enjoy a long weekend in Barcelona as her prize for winning The Times/Sony Ericsson Cameraphone Photographer of the Year. Her image will compete with entries from 15 other countries at Newsflash, an exhibition of phone images at the Air Gallery in Dover Street, Mayfair, opening on December 13.

National winners will then battle it out for the title International Cameraphone Photographer of the Year.

Ms Machmann-Morck said: “I had never used the camera on my phone before. But this fire was happening right before my eyes; I tried very hard to get the firefighters into the picture.”

She sent it to The Times, and it has already earned her a Sony Ericsson K800i cameraphone as the best picture submitted in August. A panel of judges from The Times and Sony Ericsson chose the Royal Academy fire as the most immediately newsworthy image among more than 2,000 entries.

With the advent of the cameraphone, members of the public can sometimes have the edge over news professionals if they happen to be in the right place at the right time.

The Times, which encourages readers to submit cameraphone pictures of crucial moments at live news events as they happen, has already used phone images of a number of news stories, including the 7/7 London bombings and several police raids on terrorism suspects.

Other images that came close to winning included a helicopter mountain rescue and a shot of the Red Arrows aerobatic team.

Call us

Send cameraphone pictures of newsworthy events to The Times on this number, prefixing the message NEWS

07834 885058

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Donor organ allowed child’s own heart to heal
• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating