Contact:
Chriss Swaney
412-268-5776

For immediate release:
November 10, 2005

Carnegie Mellon's Steinbrenner Institute to Sponsor Environmental Photo Contest

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research (SEER) will kick off a new annual environmental photography contest at noon, Nov. 18, 2005, in the Dilk's Room in Roberts Hall of Engineering.

The contest is open to undergraduate and graduate students at Carnegie Mellon. The theme of this year's contest is a quote by environmentalist John Muir: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."

"We are looking for photos that capture the essence of his quote," said Deborah A. Lange, executive director of SEER and head of the Brownfields Center in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon.

Lange said the contest is designed to help students get better acquainted with how global and national environmental policy can impact the way they live and work. "Urban sprawl, air pollution and the need for alternative energy are all very visual challenges, and we hope this photography contest will challenge the future stewards of our environment to capture some of these issues with the click of their camera," she said.

All photo entries will be judged by world-class photojournalists, including Lynn Johnson, a freelance photographer for National Geographic magazine; John Schisler, chief photographer at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review newspaper; Justin Merriman, president of the News Photographers Association of Greater Pittsburgh and a Pittsburgh Tribune Review photographer; and John Beale and Tony Tye, both Pittsburgh Post-Gazette photographers. The photographers will showcase some of their own award-winning work and give photography tips to contest participants.

Winners and prizes are scheduled to be announced during Earth Week, April 21, 2006. The grand prize champion will have the first-place photo hang permanently in the new solar house headquarters of the Steinbrenner Institute. Second- and third-place entries will be featured on a special Steinbrenner Institute photo contest gallery Web site.

Additional contest information may be obtained by visiting: www.cmu.edu/environment. The contest deadline is March 31, 2006.

WHEN: Noon, November 18

WHERE: Dilk's Room (behind Singleton Room), Roberts Hall of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon campus