With $10,000 in prizes up for grabs, including a trip to London, Paris, New York or Rome for the Supreme winner, organisers are expecting a last-minute rush of final entries in the Trustpower Photographic Exhibition this week.

Entries to the competition close at midnight this Friday January 12.

'With many people now just coming back from holiday we want to ensure as many people as possible have the opportunity to enter,” says project lead Sally Cooke.

'There's also the opportunity to be a part of the international exhibition of some of the winning entries in Japan, so it's a fantastic opportunity for photographers both amateur and professional in our region to showcase their talents.”

In additional to the $10,000 prize pool, this year copies of some of the winning photos will be sent to Hitachi, Japan to appear in a photographic display there to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the sister city relationship.

'We have been able to arrange for this to happen in collaboration with Creative Bay of Plenty. It's a lovely add-on and means the winners will be in an international exhibition as well, so that's quite something.”

This year's exhibition features four categories for photographers from amateur to professional to enter before midnight Friday: Our People, Nature and Landscapes, Celebration and Digital Manipulation.

Once the judges have chosen the winners, the Trustpower Photographic Exhibition opens on The Strand, with the 20 winners on display from January 26 for an eight-week exhibition.

The exhibition is believed to be the largest outdoor exhibition of images of our region and is run as a partnership initiative with Trustpower, Downtown Tauranga, Media Works, UNO. Magazine and The Weekend Sun.

'We encourage amateurs and professionals to get their best photos together and enter before this Friday. The supreme winner will once again win a trip to London, Paris, New York or Rome worth up to $3000 thanks to the generosity of House of Travel Tauranga and Downtown Tauranga,” says Sally.

For more details and to enter go to www.downtowntauranga.co.nz