AUTHORS and publishers have only until Thursday) to enter the 30th annual Lakeland Book of the Year Awards.

The deadline is March 20 to put an entry in front of a judging panel to be led by the awards’ co-founder Hunter Davies – and including BBC newsreader Fiona Armstrong and Gardeners’ Question Time chairman Eric Robson.

In conjunction with the awards, bursaries funded by Mr Davies will be presented to budding writers needing assistance to enable them to write and publish their work.

The competitions are open to established authors as well as first-time writers – as long as the books to be entered are about anything to do with Cumbria and were published during 2013.

More than 50 books are entered in a typical year in five categories, with each one providing a prize of £100.

The main prize – the Lakeland Book of the Year Award – is given to the book judged to be the overall winner. To make a last minute entry, email chris@chriscollier.co.uk or contact Cumbria Tourism on 01539 8222222.