Florida’s 175 state parks, trails and historic sites offer beautiful backdrops for recreational and nature-based photos, and the Florida State Parks want to see them from your point of view.

In collaboration with its retail and reservation management provider, Florida State Parks is launching this year’s annual photo contest, Explore Florida State Parks.

“We have had extraordinary attendance at our parks, and we know along with that comes an increasing number of incredible images of our beaches, inland waterways, forests and trails,” said Chuck Hatcher, acting director of Florida State Parks.

“To entice more interest in our longstanding photo contest, we have upgraded our prizes and will add an honorable mention for each photo category. I’m excited to see the special memories created while exploring our beautiful parks,” Hatcher added.

Submissions will be accepted on the photo contest website. The contest is open to all Florida State Parks visitors, and the submission period will run from Jan. 13, 2022, through March 10, 2022.

Each entrant can submit up to five photos, one in each of the following categories: 

Explore Nature.
Explore New Points of View.
Explore Parks in Motion.
Explore Trails.
Explore Wildlife.

First-, second- and third-place winners will be selected from all submissions by a panel of employees from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The first-place winner will receive a Florida State Parks-branded stand-up paddleboard, a Florida State Parks Family Annual Entrance Pass and a BioLite FirePit.

The three winners will be announced in early April 2022. For a full list of prizes, please visit our photo contest website. 

The contest is being administered in collaboration with US eDirect, which provides the the point of sale system and reservation software platform that allows visitors to securely book overnight stays across the Florida State Parks system. 

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