BUTCHERS and bakers from across Scotland have offered up their finest Scotch pies in a bid to be labelled the world’s best.

Judging began for the 20th World Championship Scotch Pie Awards in Dunfermline yesterday.

There are awards up for grabs across a range of categories, including for Best Football Pie or Savoury and Best Sausage Roll.

Alasdair Smith, chief executive of Scottish bakers, which manages the competition, said: “The Scotch pie has long been an iconic product here in Scotland, with its roots in our industrial heartland as a manual workers daily fare and latterly its association with sport.

“However, it was 20 years ago that the butcher and bakery sectors decided to get together and celebrate its provenance and so the World Scotch Pie Championships were born. The competition has grown and grown.”

The panel of expert and independent judges will also select a best macaroni pie, steak pie, cold savoury, hot savoury, vegetarian savoury, haggis savoury and bridie and apple pie.

The winners will be revealed at an awards lunch on January 15.