Community-minded local retailers have stepped up in a big way, contributing a treasure chest of prizes for the annual Photopia digital image contest and exhibition.

But the May 19 deadline is coming very soon.

鈥淚 would be excited to win any of these,鈥� said organizer Jamie Bowman of the Comox Valley Arts Council. 鈥淢any of the prizes are particularly focused on catching the eye of young people entering the youth categories.鈥�

For example, BestBuy has kicked in an Activeon action camera plus a virtual reality headset for cellphones.

The sponsors include: Affordable Framing providing $200 worth of photo framing, London Drugs giving a $100 gift certificate plus printing of a photo canvas-wrap, Sure Copy offering six poster-size prints of photos, North Island College giving a $100 certificate toward tuition or the bookstore, McKays Electronics giving a House of Marley blu-tooth speaker, and Staples providing winners with printing services and photo supplies.

鈥淭hese businesses clearly believe in community,鈥� said Bowman.

The volunteer judging panel is full of expertise, with Comox Valley Camera Club president Kerry Dawson, local pro photographer Lisa Graham, owner of Seadance Photography, and Bob Ell, certified as a photography judge by the Canadian Association for Photographic Art.

They will be poring through the images entered to each of the categories 鈥� Open, Open-Manipulated, Youth-Open and Youth-Manipulated.

The contest images will then get the chance to really shine, exhibited on high-end, big-screen televisions, loaned by McKays and London Drugs, in the Courtenay Library June 3, as part of the Elevate arts festival.