Denise Peacock, 36, of Sutton Coldfield has been left bereft after a photo of her cat didn't win a National Photography Award.
She told friends, 'I can't believe it. It wasn't even shortlisted. It's such a cute photo of Milo licking his paws. You can't quite see the end of his tail, one of his eyes is red because of the flash, it's a little blurry and you can see a pair of pants on the floor in the background but, other than that, it's purrrfect.'
Her daughter, Bella, 9, who is just as upset, persuaded her mum to enter the competition, telling her that it was “the cutest photo in the history of the whole world, ever, and couldn't lose”.
A spokesperson for the National Photography Awards told us that there was an unprecedented number of entries this year and hoped that Ms Peacock would continue her interest in photography and wished her luck for next year's competition.