Have a sneak peek at today's prizes for the Highland Cross
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A Black Isle pottery house have been hard at work to create the awards for todays Highland Cross event.
The Potter's House in Muir of Ord made 53 special plates to mark winners of each category including First Lady and Services Category.
The mammoth job took staff members days to complete.
Each plate was marked out for lettering and sizing, then outlines were done in feltpen. Carbon copies of the logo are then outlined onto the middle, underglaze outlining then begins followed by the painting which has three coats for the correct definition.
Each plate is passed through the teams hands several times which took 3-4 hours per plate. Then when the artists work is done glazing began.
Every plate is hand dipped, dried, the underneath cleaned and then placed in the kiln firing taking eight hours to get to 998 degrees and another 8 or 9 hours to cool.
Fiona Warren, owner of The Potter's House, said the team were chuffed to be asked to make the awards.
"The whole ethos of it was that it's a local charity event that gets lots of people together and the fundraising goes to local charities and uses local businesses," she said.
"This is really good. I can look at it and say I know that team or company. We've been really chuffed to do it. It has been a long task, about five or six weeks solid and we are all really proud of what we've done."
Hawco in Inverness sponsored the awards which will be given out today after the gruelling challenge.
RELATED:
Organisations hard at work to prepare Highland Cross route
Highland Cross duathlon set to return with continued support of sponsors Hawco and MacKenzie Kerr