This week in Blipfoto - Athletes, celebrity and great photography

Right, there's just no time for small talk this week. So shall we just cut the formalities and niceties and get straight to it?

For the impatient among you, here's an abbreviated version: New and improved functions; Blipfoto Maps for all; competition winners; dates with celebrity; one Blipper's moment of fame; and all your usual awesomeness too.

After three months of Beta testing (OK, that should probably read "fun") for Blipfoto Members, as we promised, Blipfoto Maps have now been made available to all. Members have had time to add their Blips to the map and already it's looking like a busy place. But now everyone can explore the world, one Blip at a time. If you haven't, you should really check it out - there are some amazing things to be discovered.

Subscribe to the Blip Boffins journal for future updates as they happen.

Macbeth photography call

Earlier this week, our friends at the National Theatre of Scotland offered two Blippers the chance to spend the day in the company of Hollywood star Alan Cumming.

Lucky Blippers Hope and Mo were treated to a photography call at Glasgow's Tramway Theatre, where Cumming is starring in the production of Macbeth. They then met the star for an intimate Q&A session, before returning to the theatre in the evening to enjoy a special preview performance of the play.

UK Athletics competition

This week also saw the winner of our competition with UK Athletics being announced.

We teamed up with UK Athletics to offer one lucky Blipper a Shot at Glory - and the chance to become an accredited sports photographer.

Hundreds of images were entered over the past month to stand a chance of winning this money-can't-buy prize - to get trackside at the Aviva 2012 Trials in Birmingham, as the UK's top athletes compete for final Olympic places.

The brief was to capture a shot that showed "a sense of movement", "action" or "a determination to succeed."

Working closely with UK Athletics, a shortlist of finalists was compiled, before Blippers and fans of UK Athletics were invited to vote for a winner.

Hundreds of votes were cast over the space of just a week to determine the winner and the two runners-up.

In third place was this muddy shot from the Scottish Cyclocross Championships by Blipper Anth, who wins signed UK Athletics kit. The runner up - winning a lovely Olympus Camera - is Jenny, for her beautiful black and white image of gymnasts showing off.

Winning the top prize is this action shot by Darrill (above), which perfectly captures the determination of these two young athletes as they race towards the finish line.

A huge congratulations to the winners and thanks to all that entered - there were some great shots.

The Olympic Torch

Staying on the Athletics theme, we've been tracking the Olympic Torch, through the lens of Blippers, as it makes its way across the UK towards London for the 2012 Games.

So, it was great to see Blipper "Scobes" doing his best impersonation of Usain Bolt and becoming the focus of the flash bulbs as he carried the Olympic Flame towards the English border.

In fact, his stint running (and waving - quite a lot) with the flame was such a hit, he was featured on Match of The Day at half time during the Italy v Croatia Euro 2012 match - Including a voice over by Gary Lineker. The stuff of dreams...

Staff Picks

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jake Deikman. It is amazing what the human body can do when it has been repetitively trained and has come under the control of a sharply focused mind.

It's hard to believe that this is where Sir Chris Hoy started out. But, apparently after a group of cycling enthusiasts took over its running the Velodrome is in "rude health".

Wonder where the pot of gold is? A rainbow is a rare vision of beauty in the stormy seas.

Not your usual view of rush-hour in central London...

A great study of the Rolling Nature Wood School in Germany. Slightly spooky, slightly fascinating but hugely bizarre portrait of one man and his taxidermy animals.

A classic image of childhood. Look at the huge concentration on his face... and that's just the proud dad. A timeless shot of a boy on his bike.

You can see all our recent Staff Picks here together in one Collection here.