Snap-happy contest shows best of Whangarei

So you thought T-shirts said it all? Not quite.

Hot on the heels of the Love It, Wear It T-shirt-design campaign is another way for people to express what is great about Whangarei.

This time it's a quest to capture that loved-up feeling from behind a lens.

"Love it Here!" is the theme for a billboard challenge launched yesterday, which is the second in a series of events to raise the profile of Whangarei as a great place to live, work and play.

A T-shirt design competition was the the first grassroots initiative to motivate the public to show pride in their community.

More than 170 designs poured into that challenge and 12 entries were chosen by the public to be printed on T-shirts and sold locally. The Love it Here! billboard competition is for budding photographers, snap-happy point-and-shooters, locals and visitors.

"The challenge is about inspiring people ... to capture on film why they love it here in Whangarei," said Pete Gleeson, Whangarei District Council economic development manager.

"This is a heart-and-soul initiative to inspire pride and creativity. As well as creating a collection of fantastic images, the winning designs will be used to create larger-than-life billboards to showcase the city."

The challenge will also have a place in another feature of Whangarei - the annual Endless Summer Festival, in which all entries will be included in a photography exhibition.

The top 12 images will be transformed into mobile billboards and showcased in March.

These travelling displays will also be used to promote the city at events such as next year's Rugby World Cup.

Some images might also be transformed into postcards and tea towels.

Photographs can be submitted digitally at no smaller than 300dpi (about 5MB) or can be provided as a film negative.

Full competition details are available at www.whangareinz.com and entries can be delivered or posted to: The Big Fish Creative, c/- Billboard Challenge, 51A Norfolk St, Whangarei.

Entries can also be emailed to competition@whangareinz.com.

Facebook users will be able to vote on www.facebook.com/whangareiloveithere.

People who do not use Facebook will have to ask organisers for other ways to vote.