Sale Festival launches photo competition for 2023

Sale Festival and Sale Photographic Society have once again joined forces to launch this year’s festival photography competition. 

This photo doesn’t deserve to win a prize, but it’s a nice one of Sale nonetheless © Life in Sale

This year’s competition theme is ‘A Picture of England’ and four cash prizes are up for grabs for the chosen winners.  

Taking place across M33 through June, Sale Festival is a month-long event that takes place annually with a schedule full of activities.

This photography competition is open to amateur photographers only and each photographer can submit up to four prints. All entries must be submitted by Monday 29 May. 

The promotional material for the competition explains the theme, ‘A Picture of England’:

“With a population of over 67 million people, and over 10,000km of coastline, along with the vibrant towns and cities of the country, including London, Manchester and Liverpool, England is an amazing place, with endless opportunities for every type of photography, be it landscape, sport, its diverse people, or its historical legacy. The possibilities are boundless to take some great shots. 

So, whether it's pictures of your favourite view in the Lake District, the Big One at Blackpool, your favourite cityscape or one of the many sporting events that take place in the country, we would love to see your shots.”

You might think that ‘A Picture of England’ is a bit of an odd choice for a Sale-based festival, so we asked why that theme was chosen. John Earnshaw, secretary at Sale Photographic Society and Sale Festival said, "We always try to choose a very open theme to give the prospective entrants as wide a choice of prospective subjects as possible.

"By choosing a subject like we have, almost any image taken in England would qualify, which also means that the entrants probably don’t need to go out and take shots specifically for the competition (although it would be great if they did!), but can also use back catalogue images."

So if you are an enthusiastic amateur photographer, or just happen to have snapped a cracking photo out and about, why not submit an entry into this year’s competition? You can find a full rundown of the rules (and there are a lot!) over at salefestival.org.uk.

Winners will be awarded their prizes at a special ceremony on Friday 9 June at Hiya in Market Walk on Stanley Square. The winning prints, runners-up and a selection of other notable photos will be exhibited at Hiya for four weeks after the presentation event, giving locals a chance to pop in and take a look. 

💭 Our thought bubble: We would love to see some Sale-focused photos entered into this competition. If you’d like to submit an entry and live, work or visit Sale, check your albums to see if you have anything M33-related.