Annual Love Your Coast competition opens submissions to Mayo photographers
The Love Your Coast competition asks for amateur photographers to capture and celebrate the uniqueness of our coastal communities, environments or waterways – such as its stunning coastline, beautiful beaches, epic cliff faces and raging rivers.
Mayo has some of the most spectacular coastlines in the world and residents are being encouraged to get out their cameras this summer as they explore the coast and capture its beauty.
Last Year, 15 images scored top places in the competition, with Declan Roche’s image from the Wildlife and Underwater category, entitled 'Let Me Out' (taken at the Wexford Harbour quay front in Co. Wexford), winning the overall Love Your Coast title for 2021.
Mayo photographer Maciej Staroniewicz was shortlisted in the top 10 images in the Coastal Landscape category for an image entitled 'The Reek'.
Photographers have until 9 a.m. on Monday, August 29, to submit their best images in one of five categories to be in with the chance to win a prize fund of €5,000 across all categories.
The categories for this year include: Wildlife and Underwater, Coastal Landscape, People and the Coast, Coastal Heritage, and Creativity and the Coast.
Each year, Love Your Coast draws in a large amount of interest from Ireland’s amateur photographers, coastal enthusiasts, and the conservation- and biodiversity-minded. Clean Coasts have ensured there is a diverse range of categories so there truly is something for everyone.
Photographers are encouraged to explore new and different methods and angles in capturing the coastal regions and wildlife. Photographs of locations and species that have been heavily submitted in previous years would be discouraged.
Working with communities on the ground, Clean Coasts’ mission is to help foster pride in our coastline, supporting Clean Coasts' communities, groups and volunteers to tackle issues affecting their local area. This competition provides an opportunity to view the coast and waterways that the Clean Coasts programme works to protect from a completely different perspective and see the beauty captured therein.
Clean Coasts manager Sinead McCoy stated: “The Clean Coasts programme works with communities and supports them in their efforts to protect our coastline. What the Love Your Coast photography competition does is augment this work by showcasing our breathtaking coastline which helps foster and inspire both the public and communities to protect it into the future."
Visit the Clean Coasts website to find out more about the competition. The Exposure page on the website features a gallery of all the shortlisted top 10 images from 2021.