The winners of the Farm Animal Welfare Award at the Ceva Animal Welfare Awards 2017 have been announced.

Katrine Bazeley, a retired veterinary surgeon from Dorset, and Graham Duncanson, a retired veterinary surgeon from Norfolk, were named joint winners of the award.

They were presented with their prizes at a glittering ceremony at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham, following the most successful awards' nominations' process to date, which has seen record nominations of the highest calibre.

The award recognises the achievements of remarkable people from the farming industry, who go beyond the call of duty to better the lives of animals around the world.

The awards ceremony on April 5 saw praise bestowed on all the shortlisted nominees and winners were announced across all seven categories.

Once again, an esteemed panel of industry professionals chaired by Chris Laurence MBE MRCVS were challenged with selecting the worthy shortlisted individuals and groups and the ultimate winners.

Awards’ judge, Tony Andrews, ex-director of RUMA, said: "I am delighted that we have been able to have two winners this year.

"Both are very different but both are doing an exceptional job to promote animal welfare.

"Kat and Graham are just two summits in a whole range of mountain peaks containing all those unsung heroes who are always striving to help farm animals.

"I would hope that these two awards will act as an inspiration to others and that many will be nominated and come forward for the Farm Animal Welfare Awards next year."

Other winners include Jenny Stavisky, from the university of Nottingham, who was awarded the Chris Laurence Vet of the Year Award, Samantha Shand from Quarrington Veterinary Surgery in Sleaford who won Welfare Nurse of the Year, Lesley Winton, founder of the Winton Foundation for the Welfare of Bears and Fostering Compassion who won Charity Professional of the Year, Dogstar Foundation in Sri Lanka who won Charity Team of the Year, Dean Bland from Well Equine in Yorkshire who won Volunteer of the Year and Pei Su from ActAsia, who won the International Cat Care Welfare Award.

This year also saw an additional award for the Guernsey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in special recognition of the charity's hard work in helping to raise animal welfare standards on the channel island.

The winners were presented with the coveted awards on stage by the judges, alongside a representative from each of the category sponsors, which this year included Blue Cross, PDSA, International Cat Care with Agria Pet Insurance, NADIS and RABI.

Cuneyt Seckin, managing director of Ceva Animal Health, said: “The Ceva Animal Welfare Awards have gone from strength to strength, not only in terms of record levels of interest, but also in the quality of the people and organisations that are honoured, all of which work hard to raise animal welfare standards both in the UK and abroad.”