MSN hosts photography competition with a difference

MSN, Microsoft`s consumer Web site, is hosting a photography competition in conjunction with Kodak and Picture It! whereby the public can electronically submit photographs to MSN, based on the theme "what`s the first thing you see in the morning?".

The only requirement of the competition is that users must have Internet access and an MSN passport. There will be great weekly prizes consisting of Kodak hampers containing cameras and Microsoft`s photo-editing tool, Picture It!. Participants are encouraged to be as lateral as possible in the given categories.

The competition begins on Monday, 16 September, and entries will be taken online 24-hours-a-day until 31 October 2002. Categories include: Kids and Pets, Blue Monday, Friends and Lovers, The Morning After, Priceless, The Great Outdoors, Professional and Digital Wizadry. All photos submitted need to be originals and the categories are open to everyone, except for the Professional category, which is restricted to professional photographers, who will need proof that they are professional photographers. For further information on the competition and the above-mentioned categories, please visit www.msn.co.za/firstthing

Select media will be judging the competition on a weekly basis over the six week period, and two professional photographers will judge the entire competition, including all categories, and award three overall winners with prizes. A prize a week will be allocated to each category, with prizes including:

• .        

  Two Kodak digital cameras valued at over R4 000 each

  (this is for the overall judging - not weekly)

• .        

  Seventy Kodak hampers valued at R500 each consisting of

  :

  
  

  * One KB10 camera;

  
  

  * Three triple packs of film;

  
  

  * Four developing and printing vouchers;

  
  
  

• .        

  Fifteen Picture IT 2002 (version 7) valued at R600 each; and

• .        

  Ten Picture IT - Digital Pro 2002 valued at R1 100 each.

Entrants will require a Microsoft passport account to access the MSN online group/Web community. This can be any e-mail account of your choice, or if you have a MSN hotmail account, this will already be a passport. Getting a passport and joining the group can be done at the same time. Go to http://groups.msn.com/FirstThing and follow the steps to "join now". If you don`t yet have a passport, follow the links to "get a Passport".

Ashika Kalyan, country manager for MSN South Africa, says: "The objective of MSN is to offer the broader public access to the latest consumer news and trends, and also provides a comprehensive range of consumer products and services. These include MSN messenger and hotmail which are free. The MSN/Kodak/Picture It! competition is just another way that Microsoft is educating and entertaining consumers at the same time."

For any further questions, please contact Michelle Abrahams on (011) 257-0417 or e-mail mabrah@microsoft.com.