Pupils at every secondary school in the East Midlands have been invited to enter a photography competition staged by Loughborough University.

The competition is aimed at 11-14 year old pupils in years seven, eight and nine and coincides with Earth Sciences Week which runs from Monday, October 13 to Sunday, October 19.

The winner will receive a Nikon Coolpix digital camera and their photograph will appear in University News, the official Loughborough University community magazine. Two runners-up will receive Amazon vouchers.

Budding photographers in almost 400 schools will be asked to submit one photograph by Friday, November 28 based on the Earth Sciences Week theme, ‘Geo-Heritage’. The winner will be announced on Friday, December 19 on the University website.

A geosite can be anything which highlights areas of geological significance, from a beautiful landscape to engineered sites, like a museum, a historical site or a structure featuring striking building stones.

It is the first time the university has run such a competition but organiser Annie Ockelford, Schools Outreach Officer in the School of Social Political and Geographical Sciences, hopes it will become an annual event.

Annie says the idea of the competition is to open children’s eyes to new technology and the history that surrounds them.

She said: “It gives them an opportunity to see how lucky we are in the East Midlands. For example, a lot of Charnwood is volcanic, and there are some great old buildings, like the Carillon Tower, in Loughborough.

 “Most children have smart phones so this competition also allows them to see that you don’t need expensive cameras to take good pictures of their heritage.

 “I love encouraging children into science. I love it when they say ‘I never noticed that before’, just getting a spark of interest, whether it’s in photography, geography or geology.

“This is also a way for the university to engage with the schools and build ongoing links. Hopefully it won’t be a one-off.”

Photographs should be sent to Annie Ockelford, Student Outreach and Recruitment Office, Hazlerigg Building, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU.

To see the University flyer go to http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/geography/news/news/earth-sciences-week.html

To visit the website of the Geological Society, which is running Earth Sciences Week, go to http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/