This green plot shall be our stage
A photography competition as part of
Shakespeare in Sutton – FOLIO’s fun festival for all

Grab your phone, compact or DSLR camera and start snapping! We want to celebrate your fun, beautiful, unusual and interesting photos of Sutton Park as part of Shakespeare in Sutton – FOLIO’s fun festival for all in April 2022.

All shortlisted entries will be digitally displayed in Sutton Coldfield Library during the festival and winners will receive an art print of their winning entry (60 x40cm) and a postcard pack featuring the 6 best entries to the competition.

Shakespeare is said to have been inspired by Gum Slade in Sutton Park when writing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Using this as the starting point, we invite you to visit Sutton Park, be inspired by some of Shakespeare’s writing about trees and nature, and to enjoy taking photos.

There are two categories for this competition – (a) Photos taken by children and young people aged 15 or under and (b) photos taken by people aged 16 or over.

Deadline for entries Midnight, Sunday 27 March 2022.

The title for this competition, “This green plot shall be our stage”, is a line taken from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Terms and Conditions

• Photos must be taken in Sutton Park. When you submit your photo you must state where in the park it was taken.
• Photos do not need to have been taken this year.
• By submitting a photo you are confirming the photo is your own.
• Photos muse be submitted as a digital image via email (see How to Enter, below).
• Photos can be either landscape or portrait and must be big enough to print, at good quality at A4 size. This will probably mean your image is at least 2 Mb big, and / or at least 1500px on the long side. Images which do not meet these criteria cannot be considered. Please do not send any image larger than 20 Mb.
• Photos submitted must be original work and must not have been previously published or entered into other photographic competitions.
• A maximum of three images per person can be entered into the competition.
• Photos can ‘natural’ or processed with post-camera effects. Photos can be black and white or colour. Cropping is allowed as long as the image submitted meets the size criteria above.
• If people are identifiable in your photo, please make sure they are happy to be in your photo and understand that it may be displayed in public.
• Copyright for any image submitted for this competition remains with the entrant who submits it. However, by submitting a photo you are giving permission to FOLIO Sutton Coldfield for the image to be used free of charge in its literature and publicity, including social medial, and in the limited run, non-commercial postcard pack.
• Photos must be be suitable for a universal audience.
• Deadline for entries Midnight, Sunday 27 March 2022.  Any entries received after this date will not be considered.
• Only winners (2 in total) and runners up (4 in total) will be contacted by the organisers. Winners and runners up will be informed by 19th of April 2022.
• A panel of judges will select a winner in each age category, and a total of four additional runners up across the two categories. They will also select additional shortlisted entries to be featured in a public digital exhibition in Sutton Coldfield Library, 19-30 April 2022. Photos will be anonymised when judging takes place.
• The entries will be judged according to the following criteria: (1) overall impact (2) composition and arrangement and (3) originality.
• The judges’ decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

How to enter

Email your entries in high resolution to info@foliosuttoncoldfield.org.uk and include:

(1) Your full name,
(2) Where in the park the photo was taken, and
(3) Whether you are 15 years old or under, or 16 years old or older. Parents can submit photos on behalf of their children.

Please send only one image per email; if you are submitting more then one photo (noting you may submit up to three) please send each photo separately by email. Photos can also be sent by file transfer such as We Transfer.

By submitting a photo you agree to the competition terms and conditions.

Deadline for entries Midnight, Sunday 27 March 2022.