Summer snap is a passport to an iPod

SUMMER holidays may be a distant dream but Oldham’s young people still have time to snap up a late-season prize.

A competition for budding photographers run in conjunction with Passport to Summer — the borough’s biggest-ever programme of summer activities — has been extended until September 22, the first day of autumn.

Keen young photographers must take pictures based simply on the theme of “Summer in Oldham”.

These can be serious, funny, of people or wildlife, or even just an eye-catching scene they come across.

Councillor Jackie Stanton, deputy council leader, said: “Passport to Summer is the first time we’ve had such a co-ordinated approach to summer activities in Oldham and the response, despite some disappointing weather, has been phenomenal.

“This has also been well-publicised on Twitter and Facebook and with more than 1,000 events going on there have already been countless opportunities for competition entries, but we still welcome more.

“Remember, it doesn’t matter what sort of camera you have, or what image you choose to capture, it’s the photo that counts.”

There are three competition age groups — eight to 12, 13 to 16, and 17 to 20 years.

The winner in each group gets an iPod Nano, with a mystery prize for runners-up.

Photos can be e-mailed as a jpeg to summer@oldham.gov.uk with the entrants name, age, address, and telephone number.

Entries should state where the picture was taken and a few lines about why they think their image should win.

Showcase

Oldham’s youngsters have also been travelling the length and breadth of the borough this summer to film and photograph Passport to Summer activities.

The footage and imagery will be used by members of Oldham’s Youth Council to produce a special DVD, and later showcased at a celebratory event at Gallery Oldham in October.