LANSING — The Pure Michigan travel effort of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. is asking people around the world to share their favorite Pure Michigan photos during the Third Annual Michigan Moments Photo Contest, which launched Thursday.
Photos will be displayed in a photo gallery at michigan.org/photocontest with the winning photograph included in a 2015 Pure Michigan Travel Guide and displayed as the cover photo on the Pure Michigan Facebook page.
“These Michigan Moments images represent the memories made here in Michigan and are a testament to all we have to offer travelers visiting from near and far,” said Leslie Hornung, MEDC senior vice president of marketing and public relations. “This has become a very popular contest with our fans and is an engaging way to showcase our state and inspire travel to destinations throughout Michigan.”
Photos for the contest may be submitted to the gallery on michigan.org or through Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #PureMichigan and #PMContest2014. Submissions should identify the location in Michigan featured in the photo and cannot have been submitted in previous Pure Michigan photo contests.
Photos may be submitted until midnight Friday, Nov. 7.
Individuals will be able to vote on the photo they believe best represents Pure Michigan during a voting period that runs from Saturday, Nov. 8 through midnight on Friday, Nov. 14. People may vote for multiple entries, but only one vote per person will be allowed per entry, per day during the voting period.
The winning photograph will be chosen from the Top 10 photos as voted by the general public, based on which photo best represents the quality and character of Pure Michigan. It has the potential to be seen by hundreds of thousands of people through inclusion in a 2015 Pure Michigan Travel Guide and on Pure Michigan’s social channels. This is the first time a fan photo will be used as the Facebook cover photo on the Pure Michigan Facebook page.
In 2013, more than 3,000 photos were submitted during the contest with 56,211 votes cast in total. Photos were submitted from every corner of the state and included everything from scenic landscape and urban adventure shots to family vacations and photos of pets. Last year’s winning photo, submitted by Carla White of the Upper Peninsula town of Christmas, featured a sunset over Lake Superior, just west of Bay Furnace Park in Christmas.
For contest rules and regulations, visit michigan.org.
Pure Michigan’s Facebook page recently surpassed 700,000 followers and more than 1 million photos have been tagged with the #puremichigan hashtag on Instagram. Successes like these helped secure Pure Michigan’s award for best social media presence by a tourism board from Travel and Leisure Magazine earlier this year.
For more on the MEDC and its initiatives, visit: michiganbusiness.org. For Michigan travel news, updates and information, visit michigan.org.