The prize of a return trip to London, Paris, New York or Rome has enticed hundreds of budding and professional photographers to enter the Bay's inaugural large scale photographic exhibition.

Competition entries for the TrustPower Photographic Exhibition closed on Friday, with the winning photos to be displayed in a large outdoor photo exhibition on The Strand, Downtown Tauranga, from January 27-April 9.

The competition invited amateur and professional photographers to submit photos that showcase people and places in Western Bay of Plenty. There are four categories: Our People, Land and Sea, Our Heritage, and Emotion.

Downtown Tauranga project manager Sally Cooke says they've received hundreds of entries for the exhibition. Sally puts the flood of entries down to the lure of the supreme prize and more than $10,000 in rewards to giveaway.

'The supreme winner will win, among other things, a return trip to London, Paris, New York or Rome, five nights' accommodation and the opportunity to have some of their photos, taken on their trip, featured in an ‘UNO Magazine' travel feature.

'It's certainly an exciting prize for a budding or established photographer and is helping to attract strong interest in the competition aspect of the exhibition.”

Additionally, the competition offers cash prizes for the four categories of $1000 for first and $500 for second place getters and two creative internships for student and young photographers.

The winners of the Student's section and the Young Photographers section will both get a one week creative media internship at ‘UNO Magazine', The Weekend Sun and More FM.

'The TrustPower Photographic Exhibition is about showcasing the Bay and nurturing and empowering our emerging and established photographers,” says Sally.

Prizes will be awarded for first and second in the four categories, plus judges will award prizes for a Young Photographers section (18 and under), a Student section (for full-time or part-time students) and a digital section.

And the calibre of entries is outstanding, says Sally.

'We have been absolutely blown away by the photos that have been coming through. We have some incredibly talented photographers here and many of the photos are absolutely breath-taking. I don't envy the judges; they have their work cut out for them in selecting the winning entries.”

Once entries have been judged, the TrustPower Photographic Exhibition opens on The Strand, Downtown Tauranga, on January 27until April 9.

The free exhibition will also include a People's Choice section asking the public to vote for their favourite photo.

For full details on the TrustPower Photographic Exhibition visit: www.downtowntauranga.co.nz