Following the resounding success of last year’s ‘Love your Lakes’ photo competition, South West Lakes Trust and South West Water have decided to launch it again this year.

Now in its seventh year, the competition encourages people of all ages to engage with the natural environment and make the most of the fantastic photo opportunities at their lakes across Devon, Cornwall, West Somerset and Dorset, including Longham Lakes in Bournemouth. The lakes of the South West are popular among amateur and professional photographers alike, providing a unique combination of beautiful landscapes, high-adrenalin activities and rich flora and fauna.

 

The four categories under which photo entries can be submitted are: ‘Play and Explore, ‘Active Outdoors’, ‘Love your Lakes and ‘Discovering Local Culture’. South West Lakes Trust are passionate about people from all walks of life being able to benefit from the wonderful countryside around their lakes. These categories are four of the five themes that underpin the work of South West Lakes Trust’s charity and people:

1. Play and Explore – Reconnecting children and their families with the outdoors through play
2. Love Your Lakes – Caring for and improving our natural environment
3. Active Outdoors – Promoting and delivering health and wellbeing in the outdoors
4. Discovering Local Culture – Celebrating and engaging people with our built and social heritage

More information about the campaigns can be found here.

As part of the new Friends of South West Lakes Scheme, we are introducing a calendar in 2019 which will be comprised of the 2019 Love your Lakes Photo Competition winners’ artwork for each month. The calendar will also feature key South West Lakes Trust events for the upcoming year.

Photos must be taken at one of South West Lakes Trust’s lakes. A fantastic prize of £250 will be awarded to the overall winning photograph, with £100 for each individual category winner. Runner-up and public vote category winners will also be up for grabs and a special prize will be awarded to the overall public vote winner.

The ‘Love your Lakes’ photo competition is free to enter and will be judged by Andy Parsons, Chief Executive of South West Lakes Trust, Dan Jones from South West Water, and renowned professional news and sport photographer Richard Austin.

Richard has been working at the top end of the newspaper and magazine industry for more than a quarter of a century. His photographs are used all over the world in newspapers and magazines, and as a modern day media photographer, Richard has the ability to adapt his photographic work not only to news and sport but also in the expanding business world of public relations and website photography.

Andy Parsons said: “Everyone in our area has a lake within a thirty minute drive of their home, providing an ideal setting for perfecting photography skills. Throughout the year the landscape changes, shadows lengthen and shorten and greenery appears and disappears, giving photographers the fascinating challenge of capturing their favourite locations in differing stages. I really look forward to judging the competition this year, knowing that it is a great leveller, open to people of all ages and abilities. Please feel encouraged to take a trip to a lake near you – you never know what wildlife you will encounter or how much fun it can be trying to capture that special scene.”

Alan Hyde, South West Water added: “We’re pleased to be supporting South West Lakes Trust’s photo competition again this year. Every dam is an amazing feat of engineering and the lakes that they create not only provide our drinking water but also lots of opportunities for family fun, whether that’s watersports or simply picnicking and enjoying the scenery. Take your camera with you, send us your best pictures and I look forward to seeing the results in the autumn.”

To submit your entries, please email your photographs to Annabel Underwood, Public Relations and Campaigns Officer for South West Lakes Trust: [email protected]. All submissions should include a title, the name of the lake pictured and the category you are entering.

For more information, please contact Annabel by email or call 01566 771930.

Photo competition closing date: 30 September 2019

Terms and conditions:

• By entering, you are giving permission for your photos to be displayed and /or published in connection with South West Lakes Trust and South West Water publicity and publications. Whenever your image is published by South West Lakes Trust and South West Water, you will be credited where possible. Failure to publish a credit due to error or oversight shall not be deemed a breach of this condition.
• South West Lakes Trust and South West Water employees and family of employees are ineligible to participate.
• You must have obtained permission to photograph identifiable people. South West Lakes Trust will assume that permission has been sought by you entering the photograph into the competition
• Images must be a minimum of 1MB
• Please enter a maximum of one photo per category