SUFFOLK'S amateur photographers are being challenged to capture not just the sights of the county - but the sounds as well.
SUFFOLK'S amateur photographers are being challenged to capture not just the sights of the county - but the sounds as well.
A new competition called 'Hear Suffolk' is being staged to coincide with the national launch of an international campaign to raise awareness of the effects of hearing loss.
The Hearing Care Centre, based in High Street, Ipswich, is inviting amateur photographers from across Suffolk to enter the competition with pictures which demonstrate the sounds of Suffolk that may not be heard by those with hearing loss.
“It could be a landscape with field of barley blowing in the wind; the seashore at Southwold, or a photograph of the bells at Bury St Edmunds Cathedral,” says Karen Finch, managing director of The Hearing Care Centre.
“In fact any picture which depicts the sounds of the county in a powerful way.
“People with good hearing often don't realise the impact even mild hearing loss has on the enjoyment of ordinary things around us - we want our competition and the campaign to draw attention to some of the sounds that hard-of-hearing people cannot hear.”
“It can take years for some people to decide to do something about their hearing loss - it's estimated that there are around 70,000 people in Suffolk who haven't yet done anything about it - and we want to get the message across that they really are missing out on life and can do something about it.”
The Hearing Care Centre is involving photographic societies from across Suffolk in the competition but anyone can take part. There's a prize of �250 for the best picture and in a special class for entrants who are under-14, a prize of �150. The runners up will also get cash prizes and the best pictures will go on display in an exhibition which it is hoped will travel the county.
The judges will include East Anglian Daily Times picture editor Andy Abbott and Barry Freeman, who is a member of Ipswich & District Photographic Society and a well-known member of the Royal Photographic Society.
The EADT, the official media partner, will be printing the winning entries, as well as displaying all entries in an online gallery.
Winners will also be invited to attend an exhibition in London, by internationally famous musician and photographer Bryan Adams who has been commissioned by the hearing instrument manufacturer Phonak to be official photographer for 'Hear the World', the company's own hearing awareness campaign.
To help encourage people to take action, The Hearing Care Centre is offering free hearing tests throughout 'Deaf Awareness Week', which runs between Tuesday, May 5, and Friday, May 8.
To enter the competition, send your picture, as an A4 print (in colour or black and white), to Photographic Competition, The Hearing Care Centre, 5 High Street, Ipswich, IP1 3JZ.
Make sure write your name, address, contact number and age (junior category only) on a label on the back of the print. If you want your picture returned, please enclose a suitable stamped and self-addressed envelope.
For more information and full terms & conditions visit www.hearingcarecentre.co.uk/news
Competition deadline is May 31.
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