DVRPC Photo Contest

Good blogs usually include a lot of pictures.  This blog tends to be text-based with few images.  One reason being that if I am taking the pictures there would be a lot of demon-eyed, blurry, or decapitated politicians and candidates here.  Those who actually can take good photographs might be interested in this:

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) today reminded photographers to submit their images for the first ever “I Love Classic Towns” photo contest.

The deadline for the contest is April 14. Online voting will begin on April 15.

The contest is part of DVRPC’s groundbreaking Classic Towns of Greater Philadelphia program and is designed to engage the community in showcasing the region’s unique neighborhoods in both the city and suburbs.

At present, there are 20 towns designated as Classic Towns by DVRPC. They are: Ambler, Ardmore, Bordentown City, Bristol Borough, Collingswood, Germantown, Glassboro, Haddon Heights, Kennett Square, Lansdale, Lansdowne, Manayunk, Media, Merchantville, Moorestown, New Hope, Overbrook Farms, Phoenixville, Souderton/Telford, and West Chester.

Both amateur and professional photographers are invited to submit their best images from these towns in seven different categories including: community, local history, main street, parks and recreation, people, residential, and seasonal.

The winning photographs will be selected by a panel of judges that will include Karen Chigounis, Director of Arts Education Programs and Associate Curator at the Perkins Center for the Arts; Meredith Edlow, visual assets manager for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, and David Maialetti, photojournalist at the Daily News and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Each winner will be awarded $100 for the top image in each category. In addition, a $500 Judge’s Choice prize and $300 Voter’s Choice prize will also be awarded. The photographs will then become part of a traveling exhibit.

The “I Love Classic Towns” photo contest is co-sponsored by Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ.

All photographs must have been taken on or after January 1, 2010. Online voting will take place from April 15, 2012 to May 14, 2012, with formal judging and winners announced by July 31, 2012. Complete submission requirements and contest rules may be found on the Classic Towns website at www.classictowns.org.

About the Classic Towns of Greater Philadelphia Program

Classic Towns of Greater Philadelphia is a groundbreaking DVRPC initiative designed to promote the region's unique communities in both the city and suburbs.

With more than one million people relocating throughout the Greater Philadelphia region every year, this program highlights the “classic” communities and helps residents rediscover the beauty and diversity of our older towns.

Although the Greater Philadelphia region as a whole is promoted as a tourist destination and business center, many suburban communities lack the resources necessary to launch sophisticated and effective marketing programs that target specific demographic groups.

Understanding that the lifestyle and community amenities people desire may change as they move through different life stages, DVRPC introduced Classic Towns of Greater Philadelphia to appeal to three different markets: young professionals and childless couples, young families, and empty nesters.

The genesis of the Classic Towns program dates to 2004 when, with funding from the William Penn Foundation, DVRPC launched the Strategies for Older Suburbs Initiative to stimulate and support reinvestment in the region’s older suburbs and urban neighborhoods through multiple and varied efforts.

To learn more about the Classic Towns program and these communities as a whole, as well as specific neighborhoods and their amenities, visit www.classictowns.org.