The Raquette River Blueway Corridor Advisory Committee is calling on all shutterbugs to help capture and highlight the beauty of New York State’s second longest river through a new photo contest to be held in conjunction with Raquette River Awareness Week, July 31 to Aug. 8.

Photographers of all ages and abilities are invited to submit their favorite photos of the Raquette River, stretching from Blue Mountain Lake to Akwesasne. They are looking for striking images of the river’s natural landscape, portraits of wildlife in natural habitat, and of people or structures interacting with the river. Horizontal images are preferred, as winning entries will be highlighted in a Raquette River Blueway Corridor calendar to be published for 2011. Entries will be judged on originality, technical excellence, composition, overall impact and artistic merit.

There is no entry fee. Contestants are asked to submit no more than four electronic images for judging. Digital images should be emailed to jmurphy@vi.potsdam.ny.us by July 23. Entrants are asked to email only one digital image per email. The words “Photo Contest” should be included in the subject line, and each entry should include the photographer’s name, email and physical address, location and approximate date the photo was taken, and a brief description.

All digital images should be of publication quality in TIFF or JPEG format. Digital photographs should not be compressed, and may not be altered beyond adjustment of brightness, contrast and sharpness. Photos should not contain additional elements that were not present when the photo was taken. In order to assure the highest resolution, the image quality control on your digital camera should be set to Fine, High Quality (HQ) or Super High Quality at the time the photo is taken.

Judging for the contest will be conducted in two stages. Once qualified entries are accepted, they will be placed on line for public viewing through flickr. The public, along with a panel of judges, will be invited to post their comments and vote on the top 12 entries by visiting www.flickr.com/photos/raquette_contest/.

The most popular entries will be included in a traveling photo exhibit that will be featured at events to be held in communities along the river during Raquette River Awareness Week. For a complete list of photo exhibit locations and other Awareness Week activities, check out the Raquette River Blueway Corridor website, racquetteriver.com/.

Contest winners will be announced in August, with a number of prizes to be awarded. Decisions of the judges are final. By entering this contest, contestants warrant that the image submitted is his/her original work and that he/she is the owner of the image. While contestants retain all rights to their images, contestants must grant permission of unrestricted use of the image by the Raquette River Blueway Corridor Advisory Committee, or its designee, to use the image in future publications, exhibits and on its internet site to promote the values and mission of the Raquette River Blueway Corridor group. In some cases, a model release will be required.

A complete list of guidelines will be posted at racquetteriver.com and will be sent to each contestant upon submission. Contact Jim Murphy at 265-1670 for further information.

The Raquette River Blueway Corridor Advisory Committee is a coalition of businesspeople, private land owners, municipalities, governmental agencies and paddling enthusiasts working together to develop a broad-based strategy to promote and sustain one of the region’s most important and beautiful natural assets.

The mission of the Raquette River Blueway Corridor Project is:

• To develop a sense of unity and cooperation among the corridor communities of this second longest river in New York State;

• To promote economic development and tourism through enhancement of riverside assets and recreational activities while protecting the natural resources of the corridor and riverside hamlets, and being respectful of public and private property;

• To engage municipalities, local and regional organizations, businesses, and individuals in joint promotion of the scenic and recreational resources of the river corridor;

• To foster a cooperative effort that strengthens the capacity of each municipality to address its local priorities while participating in the development and implementation of a coordinated corridor plan.

This initiative is made possible with local contributions and the New York State Department of State with funds provided under Title 11 of the Environmental Protection Fund.