Community Music School invites students from the Valley-Shore area to enter “Focus on Music”, a photography contest celebrating the benefits of music in our lives.  Winners will be chosen in three age groups:  Elementary (grades K-5), Middle (grades 6-8) and High School (grades 9-12).  Digital photos depicting people of all ages enjoying music, performing, dancing or listening may be entered.  Community Music School staff and faculty members will choose the winners.  Deadline to submit photos is November 1, 2007; winners will be announced November 15. 

CONTEST RULES:

1.  You may enter 1 or 2 photos in jpg format by email to communitymusic@snet.net, along with your name, grade, school and telephone number.  Entries will not be accepted in person or by regular mail.  We regret that we cannot accept more than 2 entries per person.

2.  Photo must be taken and edited by the student.  (Parents may help with the editing).

3.  Photo may be color or black and white, and should be 300 dpi or better.

4.  CMS reserves the right to use all entries for purposes of publicity.

5.  Winning photos will be framed and displayed at Community Music School.

6.  $50 cash prizes will be awarded to the three winning entries, one in each age group (Elementary, Middle School, High School).  One of the three winning entries will ALSO be awarded the Grand Prize FOR THEIR SCHOOL, an HP Photosmart M425v digital camera with 5.0 MP resolution, 3x optical zoom, 6x digital zoom, and 16 MB internal memory, donated by Wal-Mart of Old Saybrook.

7.  Winning students will be asked to come to CMS to collect their prize and have their photo taken.

8.  Residents of Essex, Deep River, Chester, Killingworth, Haddam, East Haddam, Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme, Westbrook, Old Saybrook, Clinton, and Madison are eligible to enter.

9.  Deadline for entries is Thursday November 1, 2007 at 12:00 noon.

10.  The CMS staff will choose 10 finalists in each age group.  The CMS faculty will be asked to vote for their favorite photos; photos receiving the highest number of votes will be the winners.  Winners will be announced on November 15, 2007.

Tips:

            Use your imagination!  You choose the subject matter – anything that shows the value of music in our lives will be considered.  You may pose your picture or catch a candid shot.  We have children as young as 6 months in our music classes, and adults taking lessons well into their senior years.  Music has benefits that last a lifetime, and we’d like your pictures to demonstrate that.