Every year my wife and I buy the annual pass into all the National Parks. It’s a great way to see America and most of the proceeds go back to the Park Service. On each pass is a photo taken by a park visitor and picked as part of the Share the Experience campaign.
Well it’s that time again when anyone, and I mean you, can enter your photos in the contest that could land it smack dab in front of millions of National Park visitors – and you can score some really phat loot too.
Share the Experience: America’s Federal Recreation Lands are special places that bring people together and leave visitors enriched. From scenic vistas to diverse wildlife to historic landmarks, these lands offer a myriad of picture perfect moments to capture. We invite you to get out and explore these places and share your experience by entering up to three photos into the Share the Experience Photo Contest. This year in celebration of these special places, we’ve included two exciting categories and you can enter your 3 images in only one category or both.
You can enter your photos in the Federal Recreation Lands Pass Category for a chance to have your winning photo adorn the 2011 Federal Recreation Lands Pass, earn you an Olympus E-3 DSLR Camera Kit and a trip to a Federal Recreation Area of your choice. There are fourteen chances to win national recognition and many great prizes.
You can also enter the America at Its Best Category. This special category is being included to acknowledge the PBS special by Ken Burns entitled, “National Parks — America’s Best Idea.” Land set aside to be preserved unimpaired as National Parks has been called America’s Best Idea. For more than a century, America has preserved and protected some of the greatest natural resources on this earth as national parks, national forests, fish and wildlife refuges and other lands. Take a photo in any of the federal recreation lands that you believe showcases “America at Its Best.” The winning photo will be featured in an issue of Parks magazine and the winner of this one time category will receive an Olympus E-30 DSLR camera kit and the Ken Burns “National Parks – America’s Best Idea” DVD and companion book.
For more information and the official contest rules check out the Share the Experience web site. All submissions must be in by December 31, 2009 so don’t delay. Lots of beautiful shots have already been submitted.
Photo by Loyd Schutte.