Autumn is a beautiful season to explore our parks and greenspaces, as the trees shed their rusted leaves and unexpected views appear amongst the bare branches.

Particularly for photographers, the changing seasonal palette creates a wonderful opportunity to experiment and play.

As part of their 15 year anniversary, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is celebrating the impact lottery funding has had on our public parks with an East Midlands Postcards from the Park competition.

We are asking people from across the East Midlands to send in photos of their favourite parks in the East Midlands - whether it be the austere ruins of Newark Castle Gardens, the tree-lined avenues of Derby Arboretum or images of Nottingham’s Goose Fair.

Local winners will have their photographs exhibited as part of the Postcards from the Park exhibition that will be held throughout December in Newark Castle Gardens.

The overall winner of the East Midlands Postcards from the Park competition will be announced at a VIP event in Newark on 8 December 2009 and will take home £250 in Jessops vouchers.

The competition judges will be professional photographer Mike McCartney (brother of Paul!) and Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands Committee, Christopher Pennell.

Notes for editors

The competition is free to enter, and entries should be sent to postcardsfromthepark@hlf.org.uk in JPEG format, and should be no larger than 2MB.

Alternatively, you may post your entries to us by sending them to Postcards from the Park, Communications, Heritage Lottery Fund, 7 Holbein Place, London, SW1W 8NR

The closing date for the competition is 5 November 2009.   

For more information on the competition please call 020 7591 6042.

Further information

Roland Smith, HLF Communications on 020 7591 6047 / 07713 486 420 or rolands@hlf.org.uk