The winner will have their website professionally designed and hosted on channel4.com. Budding web comics can enter via www.channel4.com/comedycircuit. The deadline is May 30.

Channel 4 wants on-line ideas that will make people laugh out loud. They will be shortlisted by a panel of comedy supremos including Sadie Kaye (dinnerparty.tv), Charlie Brooker (TV Go Home) and Michael Cumming (Brass Eye).

The final judging will take place on-line in June so net surfers can decide which is the winning website. The competition is launched in partnership with learndirect, which is providing users of the comedy circuit website with a searchable database of courses.

This means budding internet comics can find out more about courses on the essentials of website design such as video, flash, photoshop, fan sites and copyright issues.

Charlie Brooker, said: "Writing comedy for the web doesnít cost much and the potential audience is immense. The main stumbling block is technical ability, so this competition offers a grand opportunity for people who canít tell one end of a mouse from the other to get their ideas knocked into shape by a team of professionals."

Added Paula Hardwick, broadcast and partnership liaison manager for Ufi/learndirect: "Once again learndirect is teaming up with a national broadcaster on one of their latest website projects.

"People interested in on-line comedy can search the database via the Channel 4 website and find all the relevant courses. Hopefully some of them will then sign up for a course that they might not otherwise have done."