Photography competition – celebrating 100 years of CPRE

A chance to have your photograph featured in Cheshire Life magazine and included in our touring exhibition.

To celebrate CPRE’s 100^th birthday, we’re looking for photographs that best capture the essence of Cheshire. Get snapping when you’re next out and about and you could see your photo in Cheshire Life magazine.

Entries close at 9am on Saturday 25^th July 2026.

Thank you to Cheshire Life for being our media partner!

Categories

We’ve chosen four categories, each representing landmark campaigns in CPRE’s history. We hope these inspire you! You can enter one photo into multiple categories.

There are two entry levels: 13-17 years old and 18 and over.

Cheshire landscapes

Our county is blessed with many magnificent landscapes. Maybe surprise us with a new angle or a secret spot that takes our breath away…

The countryside next door

Whether it’s a nearby river or canal, the depths of a woodland or an urban green space, share your shots of the rural scenes and spaces on your doorstep.

A countryside at work

We’d like to see your interpretation of the working countryside: from the local farm shop to the people who keep our rural communities thriving.

Hedgerow life

Our hedgerows are unique, nurturing a rich diversity of plants and wildlife. Help us preserve nature at its most precious by sharing your images of hedgerows and the life they sustain.

Prizes

Winning photographs will be shown at venues across the Cheshire region in the Autumn and here on our website. They’ll also be featured in the October issue of Cheshire Life!

The overall winner in the 18 and over category will also receive a £75 Mountain Warehouse voucher, an annual CPRE membership and a copy of Future Rural: Imagining Tomorrow’s Countryside, published to mark CPRE’s centenary.

The overall winner in the 13-17 category will receive a £25 Mountain Warehouse voucher and the centenary book.

Winners and runners up will be chosen by Howard Barlow, award-winning former Sunday Times, Telegraph and Observer photographer.

Entry specifications

• Photos must be colour JPEG images between 3MB and 10MB in size, either portrait or landscape. Please keep copies of your original files if they’re bigger than 10MB – we may need them later on if you’re successful.
• Photos must be taken in the region covered by CPRE Cheshire, which comprises Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Wirral, Warrington, Stockport Metropolitan Borough, and Trafford Metropolitan Borough
• Photographs of pets, zoo animals, or animals in captivity are not eligible.
• Photos of composite images are not eligible (images that integrate two or more individual photographs together or superimpose elements from separate images).
• We reserve the right to exclude any image we believe may have been treated either digitally or via AI to an extent that alters its authenticity. You can however remove blemishes and enhance colour.
• Entries must not have been awarded a prize in a previous competition or been published or displayed elsewhere (with the exception of entrants’ personal social media accounts).

How to enter the competition

Please email your images to info@cprecheshire.org.uk, following the instructions below. We cannot accept entries by post. You can only enter one photo in each category, but can enter the same photo in more than one category. There is a maximum of four photos per person.

By entering, you agree to our full terms and conditions.

File names

Name each file in the following format: surname-category or categories (landscapes/next door/work/hedgerows)-image-title.

For example: Jones-landscapes-AlderleyEdgeSunset or Jones-landscapes-work-AlderleyEdgeSunset

Covering email

In your covering email please give:

• Your full name.
• Your age if under 18.
• A list of the photos you are sending, using the file names in the specified format and stating where each was taken.

Important tips

To maximise the quality of your shots:

• Ensure your phone camera is set to full resolution
• Beware of cropping images – quality can be lost if the smaller image needs to be scaled up to print.

Support us

The competition is free to enter, but we welcome donations to support our work to protect Cheshire’s countryside. Alternatively, you could consider joining us as a member or as a volunteer.

Terms and Conditions

Please make sure you read the full terms and conditions before you enter. By submitting an entry, you agree to be legally bound by these terms and conditions.

Where referred to in these terms and conditions, CPRE Cheshire, “we” or “us” means the Cheshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 248304 whose registered office is:

CPRE Cheshire
Victoria Buildings
Lewin Street
Middlewich
CW10 9AT.

The competition closes at 9am on Saturday 25^th July 2026. Entries received after this date and time will not be considered. Any entry that is late, incomplete or inappropriate will be deemed invalid at our discretion.

Categories and prizes

• There are four categories: Cheshire Landscapes; The Countryside Next Door; A Countryside at Work, and Hedgerow Life. The four categories are there to inspire you and are open to your personal interpretation, but we’re looking for beautiful photographs that show off the best of Cheshire, its countryside, its agriculture, its hedgerows and wildlife.
• You can submit up to four photos, but only one photo per category.
• There are two age groups for entries: 18 and over and 13-17 years.
• There will be one winner and one runner up in each category and from each age group.
• There will be one overall winner in each age group. The overall winner of the 18 and over group will win a £75 Mountain Warehouse voucher, a CPRE annual membership (worth £36) and a copy of Future Rural: Imagining Tomorrow’s Countryside (worth £25).
• The overall winner of the 13-17 age group will win a £25 Mountain Warehouse voucher and a copy of Future Rural: Imagining Tomorrow’s Countryside (worth £25).
• The photos of the winner and runner up in each category will be featured in an exhibition that tours Cheshire venues in the Autumn of 2026. By entering the competition, you give permission for CPRE to print and display your photograph at these exhibitions.
• A selection of winning and runner up photos will be published in the October edition of Cheshire Life magazine (subject to final editorial confirmation). By entering the competition, you give permission for your photography to be printed and shown in Cheshire Life Magazine.
• Prizes are as stated above and are not transferable and there are no alternative prizes or cash substitutes. We reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal value in the event that the selected prize is unavailable.

Who can enter

• The competition is open to UK residents only (including residents of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man).
• CPRE and CPRE Cheshire employees are excluded from the competition. CPRE and CPRE Cheshire volunteers may, however, apply.
• The competition is open to amateur photographers only. For the purposes of this competition, we consider a professional photographer someone who makes more than half their income from selling their photographs.

Entry specifications

• Photos must be taken in the region covered by CPRE Cheshire, which comprises Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Wirral, Warrington, Stockport Metropolitan Borough, and Trafford Metropolitan Borough.
• Photos must be in colour.
• Photographs of pets, zoo animals, or animals in captivity are not eligible.
• Photos can either be portrait or landscape.
• Entries must be submitted as original high-resolution jpg files. These files should be of sufficient quality to reproduce for magazine print at 300dpi and for display up to A3 size. In practice, this is likely to require a file size of at least 3MB, and no more than 10MB. Please retain your original. Images of insufficient quality will not be selected.
• Photos of composite images are not eligible – entries that integrate two or more individual photographs together or superimpose elements from separate images.
• We reserve the right to exclude any image we believe may have been treated either digitally or via AI to an extent that alters its authenticity. You can however remove blemishes and enhance colour. You can also crop the image.
• Entries must not have been awarded a prize in a previous competition or have been published or displayed elsewhere (with the exception of entrants’ personal social media accounts).
• Our decision as to the eligibility of individual photographs will be final and we will not enter into any correspondence

Taking the photos

• Photographs must be taken responsibly. You must respect habitats, communities, businesses such as farmland, nature reserves, and other people enjoying the countryside. Please follow the Countryside Code.
• You must not cause injury or do anything to distress any animal or damage its habitat, either deliberately or inadvertently, whilst trying to take a photograph. Drones must not be flown close to wildlife habitats or nest sites.
• If taking photographs on private land and not on a public right of way, entrants must have permission from the landowners and be able to provide proof.

Entry process

• Entries can only be accepted by email to info@cprecheshire.org.uk.
• File names must be in the following format: surname-category or categories (landscapes/next door/work/hedgerows)-image-title.
• The covering email must give:
  • Your full name
  • Your age if under 18
  • A list of the photos you are sending, using the file names in the specified format and stating where each was taken.
• We will not be responsible for any technical issues which may result in any entry being lost, corrupted, not properly recorded or delayed.

Judging

• We will appoint as judge(s) a person/people we consider to be independent and suitably qualified and/or experienced.
• All photographs will be judged on the following criteria:
  • Public appeal
  • Relevance to category
  • Originality
  • Composition
  • Technical skill
  • Suitability for inclusion in Cheshire Life and as part of the touring exhibition in the autumn of 2026.
• The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence or discussion will be entered into.
• We will notify winners by email within 14 days after the closing date.
• Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted and no feedback on any entry will be provided.

Copyright, liability, and use of images

• Your entry must be your own original work, and you must be the sole owner of copyright. Entries must not infringe the rights of third parties including copyright, trademarks, trade secrets, privacy, publicity, personal or proprietary rights. You agree to indemnify CPRE against any claim from any third party for any infringement of intellectual property rights or for any breach of these Terms and Conditions.
• Entrants retain copyright in their photograph(s) and agree to grant Cheshire CPRE a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right and worldwide license to use their photograph(s) as set out in these Terms and Conditions.
• You agree to waive any moral rights contained in your entry and agree that we may reproduce, modify, revise, enhance, adapt, develop, publish, translate, edit, move, re-issue, delete or create derivative works from their photograph(s), and may distribute, display and exercise all rights with respect to it, in any media.
• This means that we may use photos submitted in any way we choose, including, but not limited to in communications, marketing, publicity and advertising. We may also use your photograph for wider general publicity purposes for the national Campaign to Protect Rural England organisation. No fees will be payable for any of the above uses.
• We will try to credit photographers, but this may not always be possible.
• Save as expressly provided for in these terms and as required by law, we will not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage or for any costs, claims or demands of any nature whatsoever arising directly or indirectly out of the use of your contribution or any part thereof.

Personal data and consent

• Winners’ names will be published in Cheshire Life and as part of the touring exhibition and in CPRE Cheshire online and print media, and may also be shared more widely.
• If your entry features other people who are recognisable, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have their consent for the photo to be treated according to the uses set out in these Terms and Conditions. If children under 18 are featured, you must have the consent of parents/guardians.
• Any personal data submitted will be held securely and in accordance with all applicable Data Protection Law and our Privacy Policy. Personal data supplied will be used to process your entry and to keep you updated about the competition. Entrants’ names will be used to publicise winning entries and to credit images used where appropriate. Your personal data may also be passed on to third party suppliers for fulfilment/delivery/arrangement of the prize. By submitting an entry, you confirm that you have read and agree to the terms of our Privacy Policy (https://www.cprecheshire.org.uk/privacy-policy-2/)

Other

• We reserve the right to hold void, suspend, cancel or amend the prize competition where it becomes necessary to do so.
• The competition is free to enter. We welcome donations, but the judge will not know which entrants have made a donation.
• CPRE and/or the judge reserves the right to refuse entry or to refuse to award a prize to anyone in breach of these Terms and Conditions or the spirit of them.
• Publication of your contribution will be at the CPRE’s sole discretion.
• These Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and CPRE concerning your contribution to the CPRE Centenary Photo Competition.
• This competition is governed by English law and English Courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

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