Chincoteague Island .Net

The Chincoteague Cultural Alliance (CCA) presents a photo contest and show, called Give Us Your Best Shot: A Day in the Life of the Islands. Contest participants are invited to start taking photos on Friday, June 19th and will have until 2 pm on Saturday, June 20th to enter them into the contest in one of four categories: nature, people, structures and “the unexpected”.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place contestants in each category ($100, $50 & $25 respectively), and a grand prize of $250 will be awarded for the Best Photograph in Show.  Winning entries from photographers 12 years and under will receive gift certificates for ice cream from The Island Creamery.  The awards will be made at 8pm on Saturday, June 20th at the Chincoteague Island Senior Center.

A companion photography show will also take place on Saturday, June 20th from 12-6pm in the Robert Reed downtown waterfront park where photographers can display and sell their work.

The idea for the photography contest “was to do with photography something along the lines of the plein air painting weekend in September, something that would capture a moment of island life,” explains Jim Dayton, who brought the idea to the CCA in January. “The beauty of a photography contest,” says Dayton, “is that pretty much everyone has a camera, so it is immediately open to all ages and all levels of skill.”

A registration fee of $20 (for those over 13) allows each contestant to enter 2 photos. Entries – digital only – should be submitted for judging at the Chincoteague Senior Center between noon and 2 pm on Saturday.

Three judges will review all of the photos. Dayton is one of the judges, along with James Stanfield, a 35-year veteran photographer for National Geographic, and John Beam, a professional artist and instructor at the Maryland Institute College of Art. The judges will present the prizes at the Senior Center at 8pm. Weather permitting, photo entries will be shown on a large screen at the downtown park after dark.

Pre-registration for the photo contest is strongly encouraged; photo show participants must pre-pay for their exhibit spaces. To pre-register, visit the Chincoteague Cultural Alliance website at www.chincoteagueculturalalliance.org, or pick up a registration form at Egret Moon Artworks, Sundial Books, or Threadgoodes on Chincoteague Island.  For more information, visit the website or call Jim Dayton at 757-894-2540.

CCA events are supported by the Town of Chincoteague, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.