CALLING all budding photography enthusiasts – the Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority, organisers of the Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival is launching a competition to celebrate the area’s current maritime connections.

Water is an important part of daily life in Norfolk and particularly in Great Yarmouth, where the busy river port sees ships steering in, mooring up and unloading, and boats sailing through from the Broads all the time. How could you best take a picture to represent Great Yarmouth’s current maritime role or lifestyle?

Entries will be judged by Gareth Hacon and Keiron Tovell, two local photographers who have spent many hours watching the waves, the seafront, Scroby Sands and ships sailing by, looking for inspiration.

Winners, runners up and the best of the rest in each age category will be displayed at this year’s Maritime Festival on Saturday and Sunday, September 10 and 11. The winning pictures will be printed in The Mercury and on the Great Yarmouth Mercury website.

A selection of entries along the way will also be printed in the Mercury for inspiration.

The winners in each category will receive tickets for two to set sail on the Dutch tall ship Oosterschelde, with the overall winners also receiving a dinner voucher for two at The Imperial Hotel.

TO enter, all you have to do is:

1 Take a picture of your interpretation of Maritime Great Yarmouth in 2011.

2 Fill in the entry form available on-line at www.maritime-festival.co.uk or telephone 01493 846344 to have an entry form posted to you.

3 Either

a) Email the entry form and the picture (must be at least 1MB in size) to: events@great-yarmouth.gov.uk. Please save your picture as name_title eg. FredBloggs_CaisterLifeboat. Please make sure you include your name, age, telephone or mobile number and address in your email. All contact details will be kept confidential.

OR

b) Print the entry form off the website, complete it fully and have the picture printed professionally (at least 7” x 5” please) and send both the picture and the completed entry form to:

Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority Maritime 2011 Competition, Maritime House, 25 Marine Parade, Great Yarmouth NR30 2EN

4 The closing date is 4pm on Friday, August 12.

5 Age ranges for the categories are: 18 and under, 19-54 and 55+

You can enter as many pictures as you like, but you will need an entry form for each. Normal Archant competition rules apply.

For those not lucky enough to win tickets, sailing trips on the Oosterschelde, the only remaining three-masted Dutch topsail schooner in the world, are available now from the Tourist Information Centre on Marine Parade or call 01493 332200. Originally built in 1918 and painstakingly restored to her former glory in Rotterdam in the early 1990s, this elegant tall ship will be well worth a visit. Five passenger sailing trips are available from Thursday, September 8, until Saturday, September 10. Sailing duration will be dependant on tide, but are scheduled to last from two to three or three to four hours.

Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival will also feature music, street entertainment, arts, crafts, children’s activities and refreshments.

More information about this year’s festival can be found at www.maritime-festival.co.uk.