The trailer for this year’s Banff Mountain Film Festival is up! Wow, the films this year look so awesome!
The tour is scheduled to be in Boone March 26 – 27, with the films showing at 7:30 pm at Farthing Auditorium on the campus of Appalachian State University. Tickets are currently on sale at Farthing Auditorium and Footsloggers in Downtown Boone for $7 (students) and $9 (all others). Hope to see you there!
The 7th Annual Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition will be remembered as a seminal year in the competition’s history. This is the first year that we received more than 1,000 submissions, receiving in fact 1,116. We have also received unprecedented media attention and have been approached by various businesses and organizations that want to be a part of this growing national competition. I wanted to share with you the two newest supporters to join the ranks of the businesses and organizations willing to put their time, money and energy into AMPC.
Smoky Mountain Living Magazine will lend support as a media representative, and will contribute to the prize packages of all winning photographers. Dedicated to featuring the history and heritage of the Great Smoky Mountain Region and Western North Carolina, Smoky Mountain Living Magazine focuses on exciting developments important to this region, and explores the richness of the traditions of indigenous mountain people. Winning photographers will each receive a one-year subscription to Smoky Mountain Living and a set of two, 75th Anniversary special edition issues celebrating the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. In addition, winning images from the 7th Annual AMPC will be featured in the summer 2010 issue of Smoky Mountain Living.
Also added to the mix in this year’s competition is Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Reynolda House is currently exhibiting William Christenberry: Photographs, 1961–2005 on view through June 27. The exhibition features 58 photographs, one sculpture, and three signs which chronicle the effects of the passage of time on the buildings, back roads, and landmarks in rural Hale County, Alabama, the artist’s former home. The hope of this collaboration is to connect more people to the imagery of the rural south highlighted in both the AMPC and Chirstenberry exhibits. All winning AMPC photographers will receive two visitor admission passes to the Reynolda House Museum and a William Christenberryexhibition poster.
The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition has no budget. Our growth and success over the years is directly attributed to those individuals, businesses, and organizations that have lent their time, money, and energy in support of our mission to highlight diverse interpretations of the unique people, places and pursuits that characterize the Southern Appalachians. We are excited to welcome Smoky Mountain Living and Reynolda House Museum into the mix. We encourage you to share your enthusiasm for AMPC with our partners, sponsors and supporters and thank them for their contributions whenever you have the chance.
We have been receiving several inquiries from this year’s participants in the AMPC about whether or not finalists have been chosen. Personally, I can understand the anxious emails and phone calls since being a finalist in the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition carries a lot of prestige and honor. The competition has grown tremendously since 2004.
The judges reviewed over 1100 images, a record-setting total this year. I wonder if the judges’ eyeballs wanted to go “plop plop” at the end of the day! Below is a table listing the 47 images that make up this year’s final selections. These 47 images were submitted by 37 photographers, so you can see how talented some of the photographers were to be chosen more than once!
Part of the excitement for me personally is finding out who this year’s judges are going to be for the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition. I took a moment to speak with each of them so that we can all get to know them a little better. Read more »
Appalachian Voices, as sponsor of the Ecological Footprint category for the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition, will be putting up a $200 cash award for the winner in this category.
As the newest supporter of the AMPC, Appalachian Voices has helped to revitalize a previously underrepresented category for the competition. Sandra Diaz, Development Director for Appalachian Voices, said “We hope the images submitted will create for the viewing public a visual connection to the scope of the environmental damage occuring in Appalachia and empower people to become involved.”
The Ecological Footprint category is for imagery documenting environmental concerns in Central and Southern Appalachia.
To learn more about this new cash award offered by Appalachian Voices, please read the press release.
Remember, the deadline is fast approaching – January 29, 2010!
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Also added to the mix in this year’s competition is 
