The past week has been kind on Denmark, after four photographers and a newspaper won prestigious international awards.

At the Picture of the Year International awards, (POYi) Berlingske photographer Mads Nissen took home second prize in the category News Picture Stories/Newspaper for a series about Libya.

And in the Photographer of the Year category, former Berlingske intern Morten Germund scooped second place, while Politiken's Jacob Ehrbahn was awarded third place in the same category.

But the greatest triumph was for 27-year-old Lærke Posselt who won the awards for best portrait at both the POYi awards and the more prestigious 2012 World Press Photo awards.

Posselt, a former photography intern at Politiken newspaper, took home the top prizes for her photograph of Danish-Iranian actress Melisa Mehraban (pictured).

Politiken managed to scoop another award during the week, after it was one of five winners named Best Designed Newspaper by the Society for News Design.

Politiken was commended for its strong visual style, winning alongside newspapers Excelstior from Mexico, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung from Germany and the National Post and The Grid, both from Toronto, Canada.

Danish newspapers and photographers have a long history of winning awards. Jan Grarup, Claus Bjørn Larsen and Miriam Dalsgaard have all won awards at the World Press Photo awards, while Berlingske won the last award for European Newspaper of the Year, a title held by Politiken the year before.