AGEAS Salisbury International Arts Festival has won a South West Tourism Award for Excellence in the Tourism Event category.

The finalists were announced after the award panel assessed 350 entries, with 213 visits made and more than 20 hours of panel meetings to decide on the finalists.

General manager of the international arts festival, Helen Keall, said: “I am delighted that we have won this South West Tourism Award for Excellence.

“We strive to create an annual festival that consistently produces exciting and engaging work, drawing on the finest artistic talent from the local region and internationally, and it is wonderful that we are being recognised for that achievement through the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence programme.

“We are excited to be working with our new festival director Toby Smith to deliver many more superb festivals for years to come.”

The festival is now eligible to put itself forward for the eminent VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2014, which will take place in May next year.