Let’s Get Snapping for M.E! 2014 Christmas Cards Photo Competition

It may be the height of summer, but we're already looking ahead to Christmas as we launch our very popular and successful 'Let's Get Snapping for M.E!' Competition. For those not familiar with the event, this is a fantastic opportunity to share your hidden talent and get your photo or artwork printed on this year's charity Christmas cards. In doing so, you'll also be helping a great cause since all cards are sold to raise money for Invest in ME's Biomedical Research Fund. But that's not all; winners will also receive a pack featuring their winning image, either as a mixed pack or one solely of their own. There's never been a better time to dust down those cameras, search out those paintbrushes and start getting creative for ME!

The competition has had something of a makeover for this year and undergone some improvements. Firstly, we’ve decided to accept artwork as well as photos. This means even more of you can take part. Hooray!! Secondly, to enter you now have to submit images by filling in an online Entry Form. Thirdly, we’ve dispensed with the ‘Let’s do it for ME’ Team vote. This means now all approved photos will go into the online vote so they’ll be lots more to choose from – exciting! And finally, there will now be a proper Voting Gallery. Not everything has changed though; Invest in ME will still judge the final stage, and we’ve still kept the image guidelines very open, in that you can send in images of anything you like but it just has to have a Christmassy feel. To give you some idea of what we mean, take a look at last year’s blog post featuring the shortlisted photos.

Now we’ve explained a little about the changes with our ‘new look’ competition, let’s get down to the important matter of how to enter. To enter, Facebook users should click here and non Facebook users can go to our Competition webpage. Just fill it in, upload your image and click Enter. Once you’ve clicked Enter you will then see a confirmation page with an entry ticket number, this can take a little while whilst the image uploads into our database.  We will also email you to confirm we've received your entry.  As in previous years, you can enter up to five images. Images need to be in a digital format and either a JPEG, PNG or GIF file. The maximum file size you can upload is 50MB. For artwork, simply scan the image and upload the file. The entry deadline is 31 August 2014. (Please note, the Entry Form only allows you to upload one image so you if you are entering more than one simply submit a form for each image.)

The online vote, where you get to vote for your favourites, runs from 1 – 7 September. The vote will
take place in our online Gallery and you’ll be able to access this through the same links as those for
entering. As in previous years, you can vote for as many images as you like but can only vote for an
image once. However, there are changes to the way in which you cast your votes. You will need to vote using the Vote button instead of Liking the image, and we will no longer be accepting email votes. Once the online vote is over, Invest in ME will judge the final stage with the winners being announced on 19 September. We aim to print ten images and have the cards available to purchase from late September onwards.

We have a Competition Webpage with a Help Section should you experience difficulties.  Although, the whole process is very simple so you’re unlikely to need it. You can also email us should you need further assistance.

With your help and our ‘new look’ competition, we aim to make this year even bigger and better.
Although last year’s will take some beating given our Christmas card, featuring winner Julie-Ann
Gylaitis’ photo, pipped No 1 slot in The Independent newspaper’s IndyBest 10 Best Charity Christmas Cards. You can read all about it in our special blog post. So let’s get snapping for ME, because who knows where this year will take us or you?

Good luck!

For competition rules click here. For tips on how to create your own home studio see last year’s Competition blog post and scroll down to the bottom of the article.

Day 15: Advent Calendar for ME

‘It’s a wrap!’ 

With Christmas drawing nearer, it’s time to start wrapping up some of those presents and place them round the tree. Thanks to Julie-Ann Gylaitis’ photo from ‘Let’s Get Snapping for ME’ competition, the fifteenth photo to be magically transformed into our Advent Calendar. Julie-Ann, as some of you may have seen from an earlier blog post, was a competition winner and had her photo printed on one of our Christmas cards. This card was chosen as No. 1 in The Independent’s 2013 Best Charity Christmas Cards. You can read all about it here!

You can download today’s advent image for your computer or mobile device wallpaper by clicking here. We have uploaded a number of versions in different sizes to suit various screen sizes. Each is labelled with an aspect ratio. (To find out the aspect ratio of your device divide the screen resolution width by height. We’ve made all images the biggest size possible to cater for the maximum number of devices. If the image is too large it can be easily shrunk to size. If your device’s aspect ratio doesn’t match those uploaded choose the nearest one.) If you’d rather print off today’s picture you can download it by clicking here.

Come back tomorrow for more festive fun and see what Day 16 has in store!

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Click here to order our fabulous Christmas cards, featuring winners from the 'Let's Get Snapping for ME' competition, and our beautiful 2014 calendar.

Click here to find out how you can raise funds for free for the charity whilst doing your Christmas shopping.

We’re No.1 in The Independent’s 2013 Best Charity Christmas Cards!

 

 

What an endorsement! Our Christmas card of Julie-Ann Gylaitis’ winning photo, from the recent ‘Let’s Get Snapping for ME!’ 2013 competition, pipped Number 1 slot in The Independent newspaper’s IndyBest 10 Best Charity Christmas Cards. Coming in above cards by professional designers, artists and the well-known cartoonist Giles for RNLI! It’s fantastic recognition of ‘Let’s do it for ME!’ team’s hard work running the photo competition and the high standard of entries.

 

Understandably, the team and HQ (Invest in ME) are ecstatic, as well as Julie-Ann who is completely overwhelmed. We did say our photo competition was a chance to shine, and having this photo take pride of place on a national newspaper’s website certainly does just that!  But there’s more! The newspaper states, "We think this vibrant entry by Julie-Ann Gylaitis is a festive triumph." You can’t get better than that!

 

Julie-Ann, who was diagnosed with ME 25 years ago after suddenly falling ill, had to give up the job she loved and many other activities. But one thing she can still indulge in is her passion for photography, taking photos when able to. On learning that the card with her photo on was chosen as No. 1 by The Independent, Julie-Ann said, "It’s completely crazy! I’m especially thrilled for our charity. It’s fantastic news!"

HQ also said of our triumph, "This has given everyone a lift at the charity also. A lovely card, well deserved selection by The Independent, and a wonderful comment on the efforts made by all running and participating in the competition. All of the cards are winners and we are very proud to be able to distribute these in the name of the charity whilst raising much-needed awareness of ME. Everyone is a winner."

The ‘Candle House’ card stands as a shining beacon of hope for ME. Powerfully and positively raising awareness beyond the ME community and, at the same time, helping to raise essential funds towards Invest in ME’s biomedical research fund. You can buy it, along with our other cards featuring winners of the ‘Let’s Get Snapping for ME!’ competition, from Invest in ME by clicking here.

Huge congratulations from all the team and HQ to Julie-Ann, and our other entrants and participants in the ‘Let’s Get Snapping for ME!’ competition. We couldn’t have done it without you! So let’s get celebrating, let’s do it for ME!