'Get Your Smokey On' Flickr Photo Contest

As the Ad Council, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters celebrate Smokey Bear's 65th birthday on August 9, we invite everyone to get involved in a new photo contest - the "Get Your Smokey On" Flickr Photo Contest.

Kicking off on Smokey's birthday, we will be asking users to submit photos showing their support for his message with a photo showing how they're acting responsibly and trying to get others involved in wildfire prevention. You can enter the contest through Flickr, an online photo sharing service, http://www.flickr.com/. You can add your photos to the photo-sharing group on http://www.flickr.com/groups/smokeybear/ and quickly enter images for others to view.

The contest is easy to enter:

1. Log on -- To submit your photos via Flickr^TM, use your Yahoo!® ID to log in to www.flickr.com. If you do not have an account, you can sign up for free.

2. Join the Smokey Bear Flickr group - If you are not already a member of the Smokey Bear group^TM, join by clicking "Join this Group?" on the group's homepage.

3. Upload an image - After logging in, upload your images using the form provided.

4. Send the image to Smokey's Group - Browse to the image you wish to submit for the contest, and use the "Send to Group" function above the image to add your photograph to the Smokey Bear group photo pool.

5. Tag it! -- Once added to the group, tag each photo with SmokeyBear65 through the "tag" feature in the right-hand column of the individual photo's page.

The winning entries, determined by the Ad Council, the U.S. Forest Service, and the National Association of State Foresters, will have their photos used in a commemorative video celebrating Smokey's 65th birthday and promoting his message about wildfire prevention. The contest will end on September 30, 2009, with winners announced via the video release on October 16, 2009.

We hope you will get involved and help celebrate Smokey's birthday and encourage those attending your celebratory events to start taking pictures for the contest. We're happy to provide any additional details on the contest and rules if you are interested.