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Take your best shot and enter the FONZ Giant Panda Photo Contest! 

Are you looking for a fun outdoor activity for the whole family this spring?  Come to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, take a shot of giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, and enter your photo in the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ) Giant Panda Photo Contest!

You or your kids could win great prizes including a special tour of the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat, Fujifilm digital cameras, tickets to our Boo at the Zoo Halloween party, panda plushes, and other great panda prizes.  First, second, and third place winners will be chosen for the following categories: adult color photo, adult black-and-white photo, and junior (12 and under) photo; or put your creative skills to work and win the prize for “Most Creative Caption”!

Simply send us your 5” x 7” photo of the National Zoo’s giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian along with a completed entry form.  Photos from digital cameras are accepted, but they must be printed in 5” x 7” format to be considered.  Entry forms and rules are available at Zoo information kiosks and online at www.fonz.org/photocontest.htm.   Entries will be accepted through June 30, 2005; judging will be conducted in early July.  Representatives from the National Zoo and sponsoring organizations will select winners based on creativity, composition, and content.

So come out to the Zoo, take your best shot, and enter the 2005 Giant Panda Photo Contest!  The National Zoo is located at 3001 Connecticut Avenue in northwest Washington D.C., halfway between the Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams-Morgan and Cleveland Park stops on the Metrorail Red Line.  You can visit the pandas at their home in the Fujifilm Giant Panda Habitat daily from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.  The best time to catch the pandas active is early in the morning.   

If you can’t make it to the Zoo to see the pandas in person, you can visit them virtually via the live panda cams on our website at www.fonz.org/giantpandas.htm.  While you’re there, you can also follow along with Zoo scientists as they track a possible panda pregnancy by monitoring female Mei Xiang’s hormone levels and behavior.  And, you can learn more about the Zoo’s efforts to protect pandas and how you can contribute to this important work. 

The 2005 FONZ Giant Panda Photo Contest is sponsored by FAMILIES Magazine, Fujifilm, 97.1 WASH-FM, and The Washington Examiner.   

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