Take a photo along the Calusa Blueway canoe and kayak trail and enter the third annual contest, Shooting the Blueway. Lee County Parks & Recreation is now welcoming entries for the 2010 contest.

Prizes will be awarded at the Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival in November.

There are three categories in which photographers can compete:

Paddlers on the trail: people enjoying the trail, waterways and outdoors along the 190-mile Calusa Blueway, which meanders throughout Lee County along the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel.

Nature photography: Flora, fauna, landscapes and more.

Signs on the blueway: Calusa Blueway markers, access points, fun spots and more.

Prizes for top category winners will come from ABC Framing, a mobile-framing business that is the contest’s sponsor. Winners will receive an enlarged, matted and framed version of their photo.

Winning entries might be published in magazines, newspapers and online publications.

Selected entries may be featured on several Web sites, including:
This site, www.calusablueway.com
The festival site, www.calusabluewaypaddlingfestival.com
Lee County Parks & Recreation’s site, www.leeparks.org

Winners and runners-up will be recognized on the final Saturday of the Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival, which runs Oct. 29 – Nov. 7 throughout Lee County.

There is no entry fee. Submissions must be taken along a Lee County, Fla., waterway and include a photographer’s name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and title and location of photo.

Three entries are permitted per photographer; amateur photographers only, please. A model release form is available at www.CalusaBluewayPaddlingFestival.com if a person in the submitted photo is identifiable.

E-mail entries as one high-resolution photo jpg attachment at a time to bclayton@leegov.com by Oct. 1.

Winners will be selected by a panel of judges, including Cape Coral artist and kayaker Jeannette Chupack and also Fort Myers native Mark Renz, a photo artist and author. Rounding out the judges’ panel will be award-winning newspaper photographer Andrew West of The News-Press in Fort Myers.

The Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival is North America’s fastest-growing kayak festival and one of Florida’s premiere eco-events.

E-mail bclayton@leegov.com if you have any questions. And get the camera out on the water with you to shoot the blueway soon!