Future and Microsoft team up for Summer Snaps competition

19/07/07 - Future, the special-interest media company, has teamed up with Microsoft and the online photo service, Snapfish to promote a new photography contest, Summer Snaps.

The cross-portfolio competition is being launched across a print run of 300,000 colour supplements, inserted into September issues (on sale August) of Classic Rock, Fast Car, MBUK and Future's licensed Microsoft titles, Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine and Windows Vista: The Official Magazine. The competition will be promoted extensively in house adverts throughout Future's portfolio of magazines and websites this summer.

Summer Snaps 2007 is inspired by the photo tools in Windows Vista, Microsoft's next-generation PC operating system, which make it easy to organise, fix and share your digital photos. The competition encourages readers of Future's magazines and websites to share their favourite pictures as they enjoy their hobby this summer. The competition has five categories; motoring, cycling, gaming, music and general - which includes family and holidays.

Anyone can enter Summer Snaps and all photographs of all quality can be entered, from mobile phone snaps through to professional standard pictures from high-end digital cameras. Entrants need to upload their pictures to Snapfish via the specially-created www.summersnaps.com.

Users can vote for their favourite images on the site. Each week, the best pictures will win one of 25 weekly prizes, from companies including Crucial, Electronic Arts, Microsoft and many more. Weekly prizes are awarded each Monday until 10th September. The competition closes on Monday 24th September when the winners of the 'grand prize' will be announced.

Jon Hicks, Editor of Future's Microsoft Projects and Organiser of Summer Snaps said:

"Windows Vista makes it easy for anybody to get great photos, so we wanted to do a competition that absolutely anybody can enter. Summer Snaps is all about having fun with your camera this summer, taking photographs to capture your memories, and share them with the world. With low cost digital cameras and camera phones everywhere, absolutely everyone can start capturing their lives.

"The competition enables readers of Future's motoring, sports and games magazines to find out more about Windows Vista, and how it makes digital photography simple. The weather might not be perfect this summer, but we've got some fantastic prizes up for grabs."

For more information visit www.summersnaps.com now!

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About Future

Future plc is an international special-interest media group with offices in the UK, US and France. Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today it creates over 180 special-interest publications, websites and events, with strong portfolios in the technology, games, music, automotive and sports sectors. Over 130 international editions of Future's magazines are published under licence by publishing partners in 30 other countries around the world. Future employs around 1,450 people worldwide. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol FUTR).

For more information

Will Guyatt, Media Relations Manager, 01225 822517