Love Your Coast photography competition has officially opened for entries

Clean Coasts' annual Love Your Coast photography competition has officially opened for entries for its 14th edition.

The Love Your Coast competition asks for photographers to capture and celebrate the uniqueness of our coastal communities, environments, or waterways such as its stunning coastline, beautiful beaches, epic cliff faces, and raging rivers. Two images taken in Laytown by photographer Dave Stanley were shortlisted among the top ten images in last year's competition. 'Paradise Beach' was shortlisted in the People and the Coast category while 'Laytown Viaduct' was shortlisted in the 'Coastal Heritage' category.

Ireland has some of the most spectacular coastlines in the world and Clean Coasts want to encourage people to get out their cameras this summer as they explore the Irish coast and capture its beauty.

This year, the Clean Coasts programme is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and the Love Your Coast competition will be a chance to celebrate this achievement. For the past 20 years, Clean Coasts has been working with communities on the ground, to help foster pride in our coastline, supporting Clean Coasts communities, groups, and volunteers to tackle issues affecting their local area. To mark the occasion, a new category has been added to the competition, “Protectors of the Coast” which will showcase what volunteering on the coast and community spirit is all about. Other changes to this year's competition are the reintroduction of the Underwater category, which was temporarily removed during Covid due to restrictions around diving.

The competition’s categories this year are: Wildlife and Coast; Coastal Landscape ; People and the Coast; Coastal Heritage; Underwater; Protectors of the coast. The closing date for entries is 28th August for a chance to share in the prize fund of €6,000 across the five categories.