The National Park Service encourages all Americans to participate in the Share the Experience Photo Contest and join the ranks of Angel Adams, Thomas Moran, and others who have created masterpieces depicting the nation's public lands. The photo taken by the grand prize winner will appear in a 2010 America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass. He or she will receive a prize package that includes a trip for four to a federal recreation area, photography equipment, and a pass to the national parks and other federal lands for 2012. Second, third, and fourth place winners and ten honorable mention winners will also receive prizes.

The contest runs through December 31, 2010. Amateur photographers can participate by uploading photos on the Share the Experience Website, or through Facebook, Flickr or Shutterfly to the contest website. 

"We always tell people in parks to take only pictures and leave only footprints," said Neil Mulholland, President and CEO of the National Park Foundation. " Our annual photo contest is a great reason to get outside and capture the incredible places preserved in our national parks."

 The contest is sponsored by Olympus, a leader in precision technology and a maker of digital cameras and other products that enhance customers' lives every day, and the National Park Foundation, the Congressionally chartered charity of America's national parks. Olympus and the National Park Foundation offer Share the Experience in partnership with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.