November 20th 2008 is Social Enterprise Day: a national day to celebrate and promote social enterprise.

Social enterprises are businesses set up to tackle a social or environmental need. This year, we want to find out how social enterprise is transforming lives. RISE has launched a regional photography competition in search of the best photograph that shows what social enterprise can do, and we want you to be involved. Maybe you work for or volunteer at a social enterprise, or maybe you or someone you know has benefited from one - take a photo and show how social enterprises are changing the world one community at a time. Not only do you help tell the story of social enterprise, you could also win a chance to shadow Gaynor Coley, Managing Director of the Eden Project and go through to the national final.

There will be regional heats across England. Regional winners will then qualify to compete for the national prize which will be judged by England's Social Enterprise Ambassadors.

South West regional winner and runner-up photographs will be displayed at the RISE AGM and Trade Fair on 1.12.08 in Bristol, held in partnership with Co-operatives SW. The winner will receive a fantastic prize shadowing Gaynor Coley, Managing Director of the Eden Project and the runner-up will receive an ethical hamper. Photographs by both national and regional winners and runners-up will be displayed at Voice09, the UK conference for social enterprise, which will be held in Birmingham in February 2009. There will also be opportunity for further promotion in social enterprise publications and materials. The national winner and runner-up (plus one guest each) will have their photographs published in a special feature in The Big Issue magazine with potential for further promotion, as well as two free tickets to Voice09. The social enterprise featured in the winning photograph will receive a brand new digital camera.

Here's how to enter ....
Take a photo that you think shows how social enterprise transforms lives - you'll be expected to caption your photo (up to 75 words), so use that space to tell the story behind the image - the photo will be judged on how it looks visually (remember, people in action are usually more interesting than a static shot of a building) but also on the story it tells (so make sure you tell us what's going on in the picture) .
Rules & regulations
The competition will be launched on Sept 10th and the deadline for all entries is October 28th.

• Photos must be digital and Hi-Res.
  
• Photos must be your own work and should not have won previous competitions or have been published elsewhere.
  
• No responsibility is accepted for ineligible entries or entries made fraudulently.
  
• Entries are limited to three photographs per submission.
  
• By submitting an entry you are giving to RISE the permission and the rights to use, distribute and publicise your photo in various media. If your entry is submitted to the national competition, you are also giving to the Social Enterprise Coalition, the rights to use, distribute and publicise your photo in various media.
  
• By entering you are agreeing to participate in publicity about the competition and winners.
  
• Each entry must be accompanied by a short statement of 100-200 words which will be used to credit the photo where published and NOT judged.