Become our young sports photographer of the year

The winner will receive a fabulous Canon IXUS digital camera worth £250 and a trophy and there are prizes of £50 Borders vouchers for the five runners-up.

The competition is open to photographers aged between 11 and 16 (years 7 to 11) and your entry can focus on any sporting action that you have captured - whether at school or another location. Your subject could be any of the following: rugby, football, cricket, netball, hockey, volleyball, cycling, table tennis, golf - any sport in fact. The choice is yours.

From the entries - which must be received by Saturday, June 2 - a panel of judges will select six of the entrants for the grand final to be held as part of the bumper York City Knights Redrow Homes Schools' Family Fun Day at Huntington Stadium on Sunday, June 17. There, the finalists will be given privileged pitch-side access to take photographs of the Knights v Workington Town game.

The finalists' photographs and a selection of others received during the course of the competition will be featured in The Press and on The Press's website www.yorkpress.co.uk and the ultimate winner will be selected by a panel of judges headed by The Press Picture Editor Martin Oates.

Martin, who is a highly experienced photographer, gives these tips to anybody wishing to take part in the competition: 1: Know the capabilities of your camera equipment. Fill the frame and remember generally a fast shutter speed is required to stop the action. A telephoto lens helps the photographer to get in really close.

2: Know your sport. Know the rules of the game and the personalities. Try to plan your pictures, timing is everything so it helps to anticipate the action, eg goal celebration.

3: Avoid bland images. Pictures need to be animated and active, show emotions or atmosphere. They need not always be action pictures. Look for the emotion on and off the pitch or arena whether in triumph or defeat.

4: Do not always shoot at eye level. Altering your view point can make the picture look more dramatic.

The Rules

Entries should be in digital format and need to be e-mailed to photographers@ycp.co.uk with an accompanying message giving your name, age, address, home telephone number, the school that you attend and brief details about when and where you took the photograph.

Please note that if selected as a finalist, you must be available to attend the York City Knights Family Fun Day at Huntington Stadium on Sunday, June 17 and must check this with your family and state your availability at the time of entry.

If taking a photograph of a sporting event at school, you must seek the school's permission before making the entry and must state that you have this permission.

Competition rules in full

1 Entries should be in digital format and must be e-mailed to: photographers@ycp.co.uk with an accompanying message giving: a) your name, age, address and home telephone number; b) the name of the school that you attend; c) brief details about when and where you took the photograph; d) if the photograph was taken at a school sporting event, confirmation that you have the school's permission to enter the photograph into the competition.

2 CPP, The Press and York City Knights may refuse to accept your entry to the competition if you do not include the correct information with your entry.

3 If you are selected as a finalist, you must be available to attend the York City Knights' Redrow Homes Schools' Family Fun Day at Huntington Stadium on Sunday, June 17 with a parent/guardian or a responsible adult authorised by your parent or guardian. You must check this with your parent or guardian before entering.

4 CPP, The Press and York City Knights accept no responsibility for photographs submitted without the correct permissions.

5 The six finalists will be chosen by a panel of judges. The judging panel's decision is final.

6 All entries must be received by 5.30pm on Saturday, June 2, 2007. Any entries received after this deadline will not be accepted.

7 The finalists will be notified by Friday, June 8, 2007. The name of the overall winner will be published in The Press.