2015 Photo Contest

The Shelby County/Lake Shelbyville Digital Photography Contest has begun!

The Shelby County Office of Tourism in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Lake Shelbyville are sponsoring a digital photography contest that began on May 4th, 2015 and entries will end on July 31, 2015.  Photos can be placed on a CD and mailed to SCOT, 315 E. Main, Shelbyville, IL 62565 or digitally to photo@lakeshelbyville.com.

Online voting will then take place from August 11th-24th.  Voting is allowed once per day in each of the four categories per IP address.  The categories are Parks and Recreation, Scenic, Wildlife (NO Human interaction), and Faces at Places.  The winners will then be announced on August 25th.

All photos must have been taken at Lake Shelbyville or Shelby County.  Digital photos must be 5 megapixels or above.  The contest is open to everyone except SCOT & U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees.  Each individual photographer may enter up to two photographs in each category.  An entry form must accompany each digital photograph.  SCOT reserves the right to refuse entries (ex:  poor resolution, questionable content).  All entries will become the property of the Shelby County Office of Tourism. 

Last year's Grand Prize winner was titled "Breathe".

Use your summer to enjoy the great outdoors, bring your camera and take pictures along the way to enter our photo contest and maybe you will win! 

Lake Shelbyville Photo Contest

2011 Grand Prize Winner

I'm terrible with a camera.  I'm surprised most of the pictures I take don't cause the lens to shatter in protest.  Fortunately, there are a lot of people in the community who are capable of taking some pretty gorgeous photos.  And even if you're not, why not give it a try?  The Lake Shelbyville photo contest is rapidly coming to an end, and I always find it fascinating to see the kinds of surprising moments that people can capture.

Don't wait until it's too late!  The last day to submit your pictures is August 3, 2012.  Online voting will begin pretty shortly thereafter, so it's important that you get these to us as soon as possible. 

I know I'm looking forward to seeing all the entries, and I also know that many people tend to be too hard on themselves.  Don't be!  Perhaps I'm being a bit of a hypocrite, especially considering the first five words of this post, but that doesn't change the fact that I want to see your pictures.  Yes, you, John Aldridge.

(Okay, I admit, I don't know anyone named John Aldridge.  But it would have been really awesome if someone with that name had read this post.)


Even if you're not named John Aldridge, be sure to get your pictures in ASAP.  Don't make the new intern cry.  That would just be a shame.


To download the contest submission form, click here. 
To see previous winners (along with other great Lake Shelbyville pics) click here.

Welcome Inside

Every good tourism district has a website, but how many of those offer an inside view of the tourism department itself?  So much goes on between the tourism office and the various local business and attractions, and it's crucial that the community not be left out.  Fliers, press releases, and brochures are all well and good, but we're here to connect with the most important people in the tourism community -- you.  My name is Stephen Jefferies, and as a summer intern here at the Shelby County Office of Tourism / Lake Shelbyville Area CVB, I'm here to do exactly that.

Well, that and drink all of their coffee.

To give you a quick glimpse of the lens you'll be looking through, allow me a few words about myself.  I've lived in Shelbyville since March of 2002 and recently entered the Master's program at Eastern Illinois University.  I've enjoyed writing even further back than I can remember.  According to my parents, I wrote my first story when I was four.  It was three pages of tape-bound brown construction paper titled with brightly colored, proportionality skewed crayon letters.  It was entitled Staples (though I’m sure it wasn’t spelled correctly).  Each page bore a single message scribbled at the top, complete with anatomically mutated stick figures and oversized etchings of the namesake office supply:


Page 1: “Staples are sharp.”   Page 2: "Staples can hurt.”   Page 3: “Staples can kill.”

In retrospect, I’m surprised my parents never took me in for psychiatric evaluation, but nonetheless, this creation marked the beginning of something that I’ve not yet grown out of -- a love of writing.  My other hobbies range all over the spectrum, from racquetball and skiing to computers and tabletop games.  I love cats, despise mushrooms, and find the inconsistencies and ambiguities in our language hilarious.  Just look at the comma in "let's eat, grandma."  It makes a big difference.

As the summer continues so will this blog, and I won't be the only one manning it.  Check back each week to see what's happening not just in the Shelby County Tourism office, but all around the lake itself.

Be sure to visit the official Lake Shelbyville Website @ www.lakeshelbyville.com

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