RNLI Photographer of the Year competition:

Online voting open to the public for the first time

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is inviting members of the public to visit its Facebook page between 8 and 12 November and vote for their favourite photo in the charity's annual Photographer of the Year competition.

The competition, which the RNLI runs each year, is open to the charity's volunteer crews and lifeguards – celebrating their lifesaving work, captured through their own photographs. This is the first time in the competition's seven-year history that voting has been open to the public.  

This year, for just five days from 8–12 November, 12 short-listed entries are being showcased on a dedicated tab on the charity's Facebook page and the public can place their votes there. The winning entry will be the photo with the most votes at 5pm on 12 November.

Those wishing to vote should visit the RNLI's Facebook page – www.facebook.com/rnli – and click on the Photographer of the Year tab, where the short-listed photos are displayed. Those who are not already fans of the RNLI Facebook page will be asked to ‘like' the page in order to see the photos and place their vote.

The short-listed photos are from locations around the coast, including Abersoch, Bridlington, Dungeness, Dunmore East, Fleetwood, New Brighton, St Agnes, St Ives, Tynemouth and Weymouth.

The winner will be presented with a new Pentax Optio WG-2 camera and a framed and captioned print of their winning photo. The winner and two runners-up will also receive a certificate signed by Paul Boissier, the RNLI's Chief Executive.

RNLI online
For more information on the RNLI please visit www.rnli.org.uk.