Do you like photographs of past places and times? Do you like to take photographs yourself? Have you ever wanted your work to be featured and sold by the National Archives? Then we have the contest for you!
The National Archives introduces our first photo contest on Challenge.gov, an innovative website where the Federal government and the American public work together to solve problems, voice opinions, and participate in the government. NARA’s first contest posted on this site is an extension of the History Happens Here! photo mash-up project we introduced last month. In this project, historic photos are combined within the same frame as the current landscape, creating an interesting perspective of reality. We thought this perspective was so unique that they would make a great postcard book!
Here are some examples of the mash-up images that we have already created:
Here’s where you come in. Visit Challenge.gov and read about the contest rules and details. Look through our Archival Research Catalog (ARC), the presidential libraries’ websites, or through our Still Pictures holdings at the National Archives to find a photo you would like to recreate (we have a short list of suggestions in our Flickr set to get you started). Submit your photo into the contest by adding it to the NARA Photo Contest Flickr group.
A grand prize winner will be featured on the cover of the postcard book, and nineteen other winners will be chosen to fill out the rest of the book. One winner, the Fan Favorite, will be chosen by having the most people to “favorite it” on Flickr (so submit your photo and have your friends and family “like” it!). All of the winners will receive a postcard book from the National Archives, which will also be available in the gift shop and through the online store.
The contest is open until January 21, so be sure to get started taking your pictures. We can’t wait to see your submissions!