Put your borough in the frame!

Capture your 2012 and celebrate the borough’s special year

Rochdale Borough Council is asking people to capture their special moments in a photographic competition to celebrate 2012.

‘You, Me & Us’ is a year long project calling for residents and visitors to photograph whatever they want to tell their story of 2012 - the events they take part in, the sights they see and the people they’re sharing the year with.

The project aims to mark this special year which will see the borough play host to visitors from across the world as part of the International Year of Co-operatives. Summer will also see the Olympic Torch arrive here on 23 June and celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will take place.

An online photo album will be created on Rochdale Council’s Flickr page (www.flickr.com/rochdalecouncil) for people to share their experiences and, as the year draws to a close, winning photographs will be chosen to go on public display around the borough. All photographs submitted will also form part of the Local Studies Collection managed by Link4Life.

Professional or amateur photographers of any age can take part, all you have to do is capture your special moments. It might be a fantastic image of the borough’s countryside, a photograph showing your family enjoying a special celebration or friends out and about at one of the many events taking place in the borough.

There’s also a co-operative twist to the competition to celebrate Rochdale being the World Capital of Co-operatives. We want people to co-operate to capture their moment. It’s about people taking pictures of people taking pictures! For example, a walker might capture their walking companion in great surroundings taking a photograph of a stunning view of Rochdale. Or someone on stage at an event might take a photo of the crowd whilst they take a photo of them on stage.

The competition is open to everyone, including visitors to the borough. Entrants can be any age and equipment used can be anything from phones to SLRs.

Entrants can submit their photos by e-mailing them to YouMeandUs@rochdale.gov.uk or post (on disc) to You, Me and Us Competition, Rochdale Borough Council, Fourth Floor, Municipal Offices, Smith Street, OL16 1 XU. Please take copies as the Council won’t be able to return discs.

The photographs will be selected to go on display by a panel of judges including Dr Afzal Ansary, from Norden, who is a member of the advisory board for the Royal Photographic Society; Barry Hobson, a local photographer who has exhibited at Touchstones Rochdale and a representative from Pennine Photography, which has been based on Drake Street in Rochdale town centre for 25 years.

To enter and for more details of You, Me and Us, visit www.rochdale.gov.uk/YouMeandUs