By: Mary Beth Almond | Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle | Published February 8, 2023
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Through March 26, Bloomfield Township residents can put their creative eye to the test for the library’s annual photo contest.
The Bloomfield Township Public Library has hosted its amateur photo contest for seven years now.
Assistant Library Director Katherine Bryant said the photography challenge was created as a way to engage the community and make the library experience more participatory.
“A lot of times people think of the library as a place to come to and get materials from, but we’re also a place that wants to support creativity, support imagination and support people being able to tell their own stories, not just the stories in the books on our shelves. The photo contest is one way we do that,” she said.
This year’s contest theme, “Celebrating the Past, Embracing the Future,” encourages entrants to capture the past and the future in a single moment.
“We’re thinking about the ways that we all build on those people and things and happenings that have come before us and look toward the future, keeping in mind everyone that has done things to get us where we are today,” said Library Director Tera Moon. “It’s really fun to see how people interpret the theme.”
“We feel this is such a pivotal time, as we are, hopefully, coming out of the pandemic and looking at where we’ve been, celebrating and honoring that, and also looking at where we are going now,” Bryant added.
People of all ages are eligible to compete, as long as the shutterbug is a township resident or a current Bloomfield Township library card holder and the image was shot between April 10, 2022, and March 26, 2023. Submissions to the contest can be in color or black and white, digital or print.
The photographs will be grouped into three age categories — 12 and younger, 13-18, and 19 and older — for judging. The deadline to enter photos is midnight March 26, and people can enter no more than two photos.
The contest is very popular, according to Moon, who said it usually draws around 100 entries.
“I love the photo contest because it’s somewhat unexpected for a library and it affords people a different way of interacting with us. It also reaches a segment of the population that we might not attract otherwise,” she said.
After the March 26 submission deadline, all the entries will be posted on the library’s web page, where patrons can vote for their favorite photo to win the People’s Choice Award.
Judges will also select winners in each category, which will be announced at a special reception at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29. Their work will also be displayed in the library’s lobby. Details about the seventh annual library photo contest can be found at btpl.org or by calling (248) 642-5800. The Bloomfield Township Public Library is located at 1099 Lone Pine Road in Bloomfield Township.