If you'd like to become a travel writer, here is the perfect opportunity for you to display your talents to the world. The Guardian and STA Travel are offering two people the chance to win a free long haul or European flight courtesy of STA Travel, plus £500 spending money. The winners will also have the chance to write a piece for the Guardian Travel section which will also appear here on the website.

How to enter

Entrants must write a short (less than 500 words) piece about a recent travel experience. Entries should be emailed to young.travel.journalist@theguardian.com. You can also hand your entry in at any STA Travel branch, or send it to:

Young Travel Journalists of the Year
STA Travel Marketing Department
Priory House
6 Wrights Lane
London
W8 6TA

You must include your home address, daytime telephone number, email address and date of birth on your entry. Before entering you must read the competition terms and conditions.

After the May 31 closing date, two winners will be selected and awarded either a long haul or European flight, with their choice of destination subject to the approval of the judges. The prize comprises £500 spending money and one return flight per person, one of which is long haul and one of which is European. Return flights must be taken before February 28 2003. Prizes also include the opportunity (subject to the quality of the entries) to write a piece for the Guardian Travel supplement.

To read some useful tips on travel writing, either see below or visit the STA Travel website.

Tips on travel writing

· Start with something that will grab the attention of the reader (which is most likely not the beginning of your journey). You want to avoid the piece just being a procession from the beginning of your trip to the end. Think what interested you most. Try to construct the piece so that every paragraph leads the reader on to the next - it's more difficult than you think. Or, as one seasoned journalist told me: "Get your joke in the intro and run like hell for the end."

· Share your enjoyment rather than try to impress - travel articles are not an exam.

· Tell a story that says something about where you are visiting rather than yourself.

· Do not overuse adjectives - you do not want your piece to read like an overblown restaurant menu.

· Remember to include practical advice so that other people can do what you have done.

· Avoid cliches - ie "country of contrasts".

· Avoid saying "I" where possible - you can write a personal article without using it. There is always a different way of writing a sentence

· When you have finished, read through and cut out any word that is not necessary. And if something is unclear to you then it will certainly be unclear to the readers.

· Keep it simple.

· A delay at the airport is not the most important part of your trip.

· Finally, if you are a brilliant writer then disregard all of the above and do your own thing.