We want the stories of your parks, trails, recreation centers, pools and more to be highlighted on the cover of Parks & Recreation magazine! Every person has a story about what a park, trail or pool means to them. Every park has a history made up of thousands of stories that help to define it. Now’s your chance to share your story with the park and recreation community! We’re now accepting photo submissions for our Park and Recreation Month Cover Contest, and the winner will be featured on the cover of the July issue in celebration of Park and Recreation Month. With this year’s theme, “Our Park and Recreation Story,” we’re seeking photos that convey the impact that parks and recreation has on your community!

When submitting your photos, please give a brief description of why this photo supports this year’s theme, “Our Park and Recreation Story.” The story behind the photo is just as important as the photo itself, as we also will be sharing the story of the winning photo(s) in the feature article of July’s Parks & Recreation magazine.

Entries are accepted now through Friday, April 23 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Up to three (3) winning photos/stories will be selected by a panel of judges and the winning applicants will be notified by Friday, April 30.

 

 

A few things to consider when telling the story behind the photo:

• Does this photo depict your community members being physically active?
• Does this photo depict children or older adults in your community participating in activities or programs?
• Does this photo depict a community member’s curiosity about nature?
• Does this photo depict a family or cultural celebration?
• Does this photo depict members of your community working together for a common goal?
• Does this photo depict members of your community visiting your parks or participating in your programming during the COVID-19 pandemic?

A few more things to consider:

• Submit a photo that includes people, preferably the people who are sharing their park story.
• Submissions must be high-resolution (at a minimum of 300 dpi) and at least 9.25 inches wide (W) by 11 inches tall (H) OR 2775 pixels (W) x 3300 pixels (H).
• Consider how the Parks & Recreation logo will fit over your photo.
• Review past Parks & Recreation magazine covers for inspiration and guidance.

Submit Your Photos

By submitting images you are confirming that you have all legal rights to the image, consent of those pictured in the image and understand that submitted images may be used by NRPA in printed materials, websites and on social media. 

NRPA offers no compensation for any images or videos.

Images selected for use will be judged on uniqueness and appropriateness.  Not all images submitted will be used.

Due to editorial changes, NRPA reserves the right to change the topic of the July 2021 cover photo and not use a submitted image as the cover.