7th Annual AMPC Photography Competition Focuses On Appalachia

Photographers of the world, it’s time to focus your lenses on Appalachia.

Amateur and professional photographers alike are encouraged to enter The 7th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition (AMPC), which focuses on images that portray various aspects of Appalachian life.

The competition is divided into seven separate categories, and over $4,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded.

New to the competition this year, Appalachian Voices will be sponsoring supporter the environmental category, now known as “Our Ecological Footprint.” Entries to the category should document environmental injustices and detrimental practices that are damaging the rich eco-systems of the Appalachian mountains.

“We hope the images submitted will create for the viewing public a visual connection to the scope of the environmental damage occurring in Appalachia and empower people to become involved,” said Sandra Diaz, Development Director for Appalachian Voices.

“The Environment category has consistently received the fewest submissions of the 7 categories of the competition,” said Andrew Miller, Coordinator for Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs and competition Director. “Appalachian Voices advocacy on issues important to the [Central and] Southern Appalachians will bring focus to this category and will allow us to tap into the broad network they have developed in more than a decade’s work.”

Competition categories include: Adventure; Blue Ridge Parkway Vistas; Blue Ridge Parkway Share the Journey®; Culture; Our Ecological Footprint; Flora and Fauna; and Landscape.
The show will be judged by regional photographers, and chosen entries will hang in an exhibition at Appalachian State University’s Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, N.C., March 5 through June 5, 2010.

Deadline for the competition is 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. Photographers must be 13 years of age or older to enter. Please visit www.appmtnphotocomp.org for details or to enter the competition. For more information, call ASU Outdoor Programs at 828-262-4954.

The AMPC is a partnership between Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs, The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, and is made possible through the sponsorship of: Virtual Blue Ridge; Appalachian Voices; Bistro Roca, Inventive American Cuisine; Footsloggers Outdoor and Travel Outfitters; Mast General Stores; and Peabody’s Wine and Beer Merchants.