Red wine swirling round a gleaming glass, a family supper in full swing, the flash of feet mingling on a dancefloor – how would you depict the uncorked spirit, that Spanish zest for life we’re seeing more and more of here in the UK?

If you can find and capture the perfect image of an uncorked moment, why not enter our Live Uncorked photography competition for the chance to win a truly incredible prize: a £5,000 luxury holiday for two to Spain’s stunning Rioja region – the home of Campo Viejo – to experience the very best of Spanish culture. From gourmet food and world-famous wines to breathtaking architecture, the relaxed pace of living and the beautiful natural landscape, it’s all there waiting to be enjoyed by our lucky competition winner.

This amazing prize package includes return flights to Bilbao for the winner and a friend, full car hire throughout and seven nights in a deluxe room for two at the stylish Hotel Viura, a cutting-edge contemporary structure offering a spectacular view across a 16th-century village. After an exquisite welcome dinner of Basque and Riojan cuisine in the hotel restaurant, the winner may want to spend a day rejuvenating in Viura’s own gym and swimming pool, borrow a bike to explore the surrounding countryside, or sample the restorative treatments on offer at the luxurious Caudalie Vinotherapie spa. This award-winning spa is where the winner will spend a whole day getting well and truly pampered with a range of treatments, including the Vineyards Ritual which uses body products made from the very grapes for which Rioja is renowned.

With a generous £300 spending money, the winner could also indulge in Rioja’s gourmet food scene, sampling the best local restaurants, cafes and tapas bars. What’s more, the winner will have the chance to carry on enjoying these regional flavours even after the holiday’s over because the prize includes a Basque cooking lesson that demonstrates 12 regional dishes and advises on the right wines to go with them.

For the chance to win this fantastic holiday experience, Guardian readers who fancy themselves as budding photographers should seek to capture a moment – anywhere in the world – that instantly evokes the vibrancy of the modern Spanish lifestyle.

Qualities that define the uncorked life are a passion for life, authenticity, expressiveness, and generousness: the competition judges will be looking for entries that represent any or all of these themes in a single photograph. Where to find that winning uncorked scene? Open your eyes: it could be a detail from the table at a lively family feast, where the guests pass around generous platters of food – and pour the wine, of course. Or perhaps an expression of passion: two lovers lingering over drinks at a pavement cafe, oblivious to the bustle of city life carrying on around them. You might spy a chic woman turning heads on the street, her bold silhouette and vibrant colours setting her apart from the crowd.

Along with an image that captures the Live Uncorked theme, the judges will also look for technical skill and artistic flair in the treatment of, for instance, composition, light and colour. Over the next six weeks, a selection of images will be exhibited in an online gallery at this site. The Guardian will compile a shortlist of 10 from which an independent judge, a professional photographer, will select the overall winner.

Capture the uncorked life of modern Spain on camera and you could soon be experiencing it for yourself in Rioja, home to some of the world’s best wines. Good luck!

This competition is only open to UK residents.

Terms and Conditions

Entering the Competition
1. The Live Uncorked competition (the “Competition”) is open to UK residents aged 18 and over (“You”) subject to paragraph 2. below.

2. Employees or agencies of Guardian News & Media Limited (“GNM”, “We”) its group companies or their family members, or anyone else connected with the Competition may not enter the Competition.

3. By entering the Competition, You are accepting these terms and conditions.

4. To enter the Competition, You must email your photograph as an attachment, which must be no bigger than 2MB in size, to campo.viejo@guardian.co.uk with a brief description to accompany your photo. If you have any questions about how to enter or in connection with the Competition, please email us at sylvie.goy@guardian.co.uk with “Live Uncorked” in the subject line.

5. You are responsible for the cost (if any) of sending your Competition entry to us.

6. Only one entry is permitted per person.

7. The closing date and time of the Competition is 23:59 on 16 November 2011. Entries received after that date and time will not be considered.

8. You own the copyright to your Competition entry as its author.

9. By submitting an entry to the Competition, You give GNM:
a. Permission for your entry to be published on guardian.co.uk and grant GNM a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to republish your Competition entry in electronic format and hard copy for purposes connected with the Competition; and

b. The right to use your name and town or city of residence for the sole purpose of identifying You as the author of your entry and/or as a winner of the Competition.

10. Your entry must be your own work, must not be copied, must not contain any third-party materials and/or content that You do not have permission to use and must not otherwise be obscene, defamatory or in breach of any applicable legislation or regulations. If We have reason to believe your entry is not your own work or otherwise breaches this paragraph 10, then We may not consider it.

Picking the winners
11. The Guardian will make a shortlist of 10 entries from all the Competition entries from which an independent judge will then choose one winning entry. Full details of the judging process and the judges are available on request to sylvie.goy@guardian.co.uk.

12. When choosing the winner, the judges will be looking for the images they feel best represent the “Live Uncorked” theme and ideas, both technical and artistic, that are outlined in the competition details given above.

13. The judges’ decision of who the winner is will be made on or before 21 November. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

The Prizes
14. One winner will win: two return flights from London to Bilbao, Spain; car hire for duration of the prize; seven nights’ accommodation at the Hotel Viura in a deluxe twin/double room; welcome dinner at hotel restaurant to value of £150, full use of hotel’s fitness facilities and daily bike hire, a full-day Vineyard’s Ritual at the Caudalie Vinotherapie spa with a selection of relaxing treatments and use of the spa’s pool and sauna, private Basque cookery lesson, £300 travel and spending money, complete prize winner management, all service charges and taxes. You and your chosen guest will be responsible for travel insurance, transport to and from the London airport and all other personal expenses. You both must have a valid machine-readable passport with minimum six-month validity beyond the return date, with at least two unstamped pages and a visa (if applicable). Travel is available up to the end of October 2012 (subject to availability) but excludes Christmas, New Year and bank holiday periods. Black Tomato is responsible for fulfilling the prize and will require a minimum of 28 days’ notice before desired travel date. Once booked it cannot be amended.

15. The winners will be notified by GNM by email on or before 22 November. If a winner does not respond to GNM within seven days of being notified by GNM, then the winner’s prize will be forfeited and GNM shall be entitled to select another winner (and that winner will have to respond to the phone call or email from GNM within seven days or else they will also forfeit their prize). If a winner rejects their prize, then the winner’s prize will be forfeited and GNM shall be entitled to select another winner.

16. Details of the shortlisted entries and the winning entry will also be published on guardian.co.uk/live-uncorked on 25 November or (at GNM’s sole discretion) at a later date.

17. The prize cannot be exchanged or transferred by You and cannot be redeemed by You for cash or any other prize. You must pay all other costs associated with the prize and not specifically included in the prize.

18. We retain the right to substitute the prize with another prize of similar value in the event that the original prize offered is not available.

Some other rules
19. Entries on behalf of another person will not be accepted and joint submissions are not allowed.

20. We take no responsibility for entries that are lost, delayed, misdirected or incomplete or cannot be delivered or entered for any technical or other reason. Proof of delivery of the entry is not proof of receipt.

21. Details of the winners can be obtained by sending a stamped addressed envelope to the following address: Live Uncorked, FAO Sylvie Goy, Guardian News & Media Limited, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU.

22. No purchase is necessary.

23. The winners may be required for promotional activity.

24. The Promoter of the Competition is Guardian News & Media Limited whose address is Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Any complaints regarding the Competition should be sent to this address.

25. Nothing in these Terms and Conditions shall exclude the liability of GNM for death, personal injury, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation as a result of its negligence.

26. GNM accepts no responsibility for any damage, loss, liabilities, injury or disappointment incurred or suffered by You as a result of entering the Competition or accepting any prize. GNM further disclaims liability for any injury or damage to You or any other person’s computer relating to or resulting from participation in or downloading any materials in connection with the Competition.

27. GNM reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, this Competition with or without prior notice due to reasons outside its control (including, without limitation, in the case of anticipated, suspected or actual fraud). The decision of GNM in all matters under its control is final and binding.

28. GNM shall not be liable for any failure to comply with its obligations where the failure is caused by something outside its reasonable control. Such circumstances shall include, but not be limited to, weather conditions, fire, flood, hurricane, strike, industrial dispute, war, hostilities, political unrest, riots, civil commotion, inevitable accidents, supervening legislation or any other circumstances amounting to force majeure.

29. The Competition will be governed by English law.