Eighth Annual National Public Lands Day Volunteer Photo Contest

Calling all Shutterbugs!

Add a camera to the list of tools you’ll need at your National Public Lands Day (NPLD) volunteer site this year! We encourage everyone to participate in our Eighth Annual National Public Lands Day Photo Contest, open to NPLD volunteers! The contest allows you, the amazing volunteers, to showcase what you see in the natural beauty of our country's public lands and the chance to win great prizes from AVEENO®. 

This year the contest has two (2) categories!  First is “Volunteers in Action,” highlighting the great work taking place on NPLD and all of the people and personalities who make the day what it is.  Second, is a new category called “Transformative Change,” which we hope will enable all of us who care so much about our public places to put a visual onto the improvements made at your work site on National Public Lands Day.  In addition to great AVEENO® gift baskets as prizes for the contest winners in each category, there will be a $500 donation made to the sites affiliated with the top five (5) photographs in this new Transformative Change category in support of their continued commitment to transformation!

The contest is open to amateur photographers only.  Each participant may enter up to three submissions total as long as each entry showcases a different activity at an NPLD event.  The first 100 electronic entrants will receive a National Public Lands Day reusable grocery tote!

Both categories are open to volunteers, and will be judged through a review committee by the criteria below:


Volunteers in Action - Details

• All photographs must be taken at a work site in connection with a National Public Lands Day 2008 event.
• Prizes will be awarded for the best photos of Volunteers in Action. Photos should reflect, in a visually interesting and creative way, volunteers working on a specific task at the project site.  Photos must include people!

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

• (A.) Photographers 17 years and under;

• (B.) Photographers 18 years and older; and
• (C.) Girl Scout photographers 17 years and under.

To be considered, we ask that you indicate your category by letter (A, B, or C) with your submission.

There will be nine prizes awarded in the Volunteers in Action category.

Transformative Change - Details

• All photographs must be taken at a work site in connection with a National Public Lands Day 2008 event.
• Prizes will be awarded for the best photos of Transformative Change. Photos should reflect, in a visually interesting and creative way, the ways volunteers have transformed a specific aspect of a project site.
• All entries must include two photographs. The first photograph must display a specific location at the project site before work begins at the National Public Lands Day event. The second photograph must display that same location after work ends at the National Public Lands Day event.

There will be five prizes awarded in the Transformative Change category.

More Info . . .

Submit your digital photographs online at www.publiclandsday.org/photocontest/photos2008.htm or submit photographs by mail. If you submit photographs by mail, enclose a 3 by 5- inch card containing the following information for each submission: photographer's name, address, phone number, age, category of entry (Volunteers in Action, including Grouping A, B, or C, or Transformative Change), name and location of the NPLD site, and a short description (100 words or less) of the work being performed.

If you submit digital photographs, they must be high resolution—at least 300 dpi and 4 inches by 6 inches. Printed Photographs for submission must be 4 inches by 6 inches and may be either color or black and white. (We request that all contest participants retain their photo negatives, as winners may be asked to send their negatives to us for reproduction.) Submitted photos will not be returned.

All entries must be accompanied by a photo release form.  Photo release forms must include the names and signatures of all people in the photo as well as the name and signature of the photographer. Photo release forms can be downloaded at http://www.publiclandsday.org/pdf/NPLD-photos2008-release.pdf. When you submit digital photographs, photo release forms should then be emailed to npld@neefusa.org.

All digital entries must be submitted by November 1, 2008 at www.publiclandsday.org/photocontest/photos2008.htm.

All mailed entries must be postmarked by November 1, 2008, and sent to:

National Environmental Education Foundation
Attn: NPLD Photo Contest
4301 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 160
Washington, DC 20008

For questions contact:
National Public Lands Day Program Coordinator at  (202) 261-6478 or npld@neefusa.org.

Contest Rules:
No purchase necessary.  All contest participants must be residents of the U.S. and meet all eligibility requirements. Void where prohibited. Please read the complete contest rules.