Photographer of the Year 2006: Winner

View the photos

Voting has now finished in our annual photo competition.

The winner chosen by our readers was Max Pickering's stunning picture of the aurora borealis inside the Arctic Circle in northern Finland (picture 11).

WINNING PHOTOS 2006 WINNER: Max Pickering Finalists: Adam Beaugh Freshta Dunya Bud Force Vicki Johnston Katy Lowe Henri F. Migala Min Zaw Mra Ilkka Niskanen Joe O'Brien Bronwen Pickering Nicolas Randall Winner: Max Pickering's website Photographer of the year 2005 Photographer of the year 2004

So our congratulations go to Max who is the BBC News website Photographer of the Year 2006.

Editor's award

The award for the photograph that we judged to have stood out from the crowd was taken by Andreas Beer for the theme 'Love'. So congratulations also go to Andreas who will receive the editor's prize of a handcrafted pin-hole camera.

High standard

We had approximately 20,000 entries for the various themes this year and as ever we would like to offer our thanks to all of you who took the time to send us your work.

The competition will return next year.