Are you a budding photojournalist with a great idea for a photographic documentary assignment? If so, you may be interested in an award offering £3,000 to finance an overseas photographic project with the resulting photos published in The Guardian newspaper.

The Joan Wakelin Photographic Bursary award will go to a photographer who comes up with the best proposal for a photographic essay on an ?overseas social documentary issue?.

Organised by The Guardian and Royal Photographic Society (RPS) the award is open to all including photo enthusiasts, students and professional photographers with ?no restriction on age or qualification?, say organisers.

The judging panel includes legendary war photographer Don McCullin and entries will be considered on ?originality and merit?.

The winning photo-essay will be published in the Guardian and the RPS Journal next spring.

Entrants should submit up to six images as examples of work along with a written proposal (maximum 500 words) describing their intended project, along with a completed entry form.

Entry is free and submissions must arrive by ?first post? on 18 July at The Guardian Picture Desk, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER.

Shortlisted entrants will be interviewed in the week beginning 5 September.

The bursary is named after Joan Wakelin, a photojournalist who died in 2003 aged 75. She specialised in b&w portraiture and, in 1992, was made an honorary fellow of the RPS.

The award is expected to run each year.

To apply visit http://media_pg_Photography.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1502065,00.html