Going somewhere nice this weekend? Or perhaps using a quiet couple of days as a chance to go through your photo collection? Whatever you?re doing, keep an eye out for a winning pic that might just earn you the title of Wanderlust Travel Photographer Of The Year.

The UK’s largest and longest running amateur travel magazine photography competition closes next Friday 1st December. Amateur entries are must fall into the categories of People, Wildlife, Landscape or Street Life and the winner of each category will receive a photographic commission to Antarctica courtesy of British Airways, LAN and Peregrine. All winners and short listed entrants will also be given the opportunity of seeing their work showcased across the pages of Wanderlust, the Independent newspaper and at Destinations 2007, the UK’s top travel and holiday show.

In the professional category, photographers are invited to submit a portfolio of five photographs. The top prize of £5000 will be awarded to the best portfolio, with £1000 and a Nikon camera going to a runner-up. One highly commended entry will also win a Nikon camera courtesy of the competition sponsors.

Launched in 1996, Wanderlust’s Travel Photo of the Year has grown each year, opening its doors to professional photographers for the first time in 2004 and allowing digital entries for the first time last year. Full details of the competition can be downloaded at www.wanderlust.co.uk/photocomp or by sending a stamped, addressed envelope to Wanderlust, PO Box 1832, Windsor, SL4 1YT. The closing date is December 1st, 2006.