all competitions

#competition all contest - UK Photo Competition - Prize Camera

This is your chance to win a classic Olympus camera and a travel guide commission worth £3,000

Are your travel photos a snap above the rest?

Then enter The Independent on Sunday/Insight Guide 2011 travel photography competition. First prize will be a commission, worth £3,000, from the publisher Insight Guides to take photographs for one of its guidebooks. "The commission was an absolutely extraordinary experience," said 2009 winner Micah Sarut, whose photographs have just been published in the new Insight Guide to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. "By constantly searching for new ways to take excellent shots, it brought me a greater cultural understanding of the three countries, and it was a revelation how very different they were from one another."

The winner of the 2010 competition, Steve McDonald, whose picture of San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge is shown above, is to travel to Tuscany for his Insight Guide commission.

This year's winner will also receive an Olympus PEN E-PL2 camera (RRP £530) – a favourite with those who want SLR quality results without the bulk of a traditional camera. Winners of the second, third and under-18s prizes will receive Olympus cameras. Total value of all four prizes is £1,530.

The award ceremony will take place later this year at Stanfords travel bookshop, London. Afterwards adult prizewinners and a friend will be invited to London's newly opened Corinthia Hotel, where they will enjoy celebration dinner at the Northall, the hotel's modern British restaurant, followed by an overnight stay and breakfast the next morning. The Corinthia occupies a grand 19th-century building overlooking the Thames in Whitehall. It was formerly London's landmark Metropole, and is located just minutes from Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden. For more information go to: corinthia.com/ london. The winner of the under-18s category will be presented with their prize on a separate occasion.

The Independent on Sunday's Picture Editor, Sophie Batterbury, is keen to stress that entrants do not necessarily have to travel to enter: winning photos can come from their own backyard. Sophie and the judges will be looking for outstanding, top-quality images that capture the essence of chosen destinations.

This year's other judges are: Steven Lawrence, picture editor, Insight; Peter Noble, a former trustee of the Royal Photographic Society; and the high-profile photographer Kevin Cummins.

Entrants must submit three colour images, either digitally or in print.

website: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/budding-photographers-snap-to-it-2268864.html