IS your loveable pet a star? If so now is your chance to let him or her shine in the Daily Echo's Pet Idol 2005 competition.

We have teamed up with Totton's Creature Comforts and Aquatic Centre to find the region's top pet.

To enter all you have to do is arrange for a colour photograph of your pet to be taken for free by animal photographer Richard Harris at the Reginald Harris photographic studio in Hill Lane, Southampton.

Once all the pictures have been taken they will be published in the Daily Echo on May 4 and readers will have the chance to vote for a final shortlist of winners.

During the final round of the competition a panel of judges will decide the first, second and third place winners in each category of the competition (dog, cat and other) as well as one overall champion.

Daily Echo promotions executive Jo Richardson said: "We are looking for a pet with a bit of character who stands out."

There were hundreds of entries for the Daily Echo's last two competitions, formally known as Pet of the Year.

In 2001 Bumble the dog, belonging to Jo Smith of Thornhill, won the top prize as overall winner and back in 2000 Joanne Kay's beautiful cat Galaxy was the champion.

This year's top prize is a framed print, a silver bowl, a certificate and a year's supply of pet food.

Other prizes for individual category winners include framed prints, six months' worth of free pet food and certificates.

To enter the competition complete the coupon printed on page 16 of today's Daily Echo and arrange your pet portrait with Richard Harris.

All entrants will be given a date to return to the studio to look at the photos and choose the one to be included in a Daily Echo full-colour supplement.