Well-known BBC television personality, Julie Reinger leads the line-up of judges for the competition. Julie who presents the weather for BBC Look East and BBC local radio stations is a fond lover of photography and is always keen to showcase photos taken from across East Anglia, before her daily television weather forecasts.

The judging panel also includes Andy Abbott, Photographic Editor for the East Anglian Daily Times and Barry Freeman ARPS DPAGB, who is chairman of Ipswich & District Photographic Society.

The line up is completed by Karen Finch, Managing Director of The Hearing Care Centre.

Hearing care specialists, The Hearing Care Centre, based in High Street, Ipswich are inviting amateur photographers (both young and old) from across Suffolk to enter the competition with photos, which demonstrate the sounds of Suffolk that may not be heard by those with hearing loss.

“It could be a landscape with field of barley blowing in the wind; seagulls flying high at Felixstowe, or a photograph of rowing boats splashing in the river at Dedham,” says Karen Finch, Managing Director of The Hearing Care Centre. “In fact any picture which depicts the sounds of the county in a powerful way,” she says.

“People with good hearing often don’t realise the impact even mild hearing loss has on the enjoyment of ordinary things around us – we want our competition and the campaign to draw attention to some of the sounds that hard-of-hearing people cannot hear.”

The competition was created to coincide with the UK launch of an international campaign to raise awareness of the effects of hearing loss. Hearing aid manufacturer, Phonak, have created the campaign “Hear the World” and have commissioned internationally famous musician and photographer Bryan Adams to photograph celebrities who are supporting the campaign including Rod Stewart, Amy Winehouse and Placido Domingo.

There’s a prize of £250 for the best picture and in a special class for entrants who are under 14 there’ll be a prize of £150. The runners up will also get cash prizes and the best pictures will go on display in an exhibition, which it is hoped will travel the county.

To help encourage people to take action, the company is offering free hearing tests throughout ‘Deaf Awareness Week’, which runs between Monday 4th May and Friday 8th May 2009.

To enter the competition, send your picture as an A4 print (in colour or black and white) to Photographic Competition, The Hearing Care Centre, 5 High Street, Ipswich, IP1 3JZ. Make sure write your name, address, contact number and age (junior category only) on a label on the back of the print. If you want your picture returned, please enclose a suitable stamped and self-addressed envelope.

For more information and full terms & conditions visit the Hearing Centre. The competition deadline is 31st May 2009.