Photographers are being challenged to link past and present in a prize competition organised by Cumbria County Council.

They are invited to visit a website set up by the county council and funded by the New Opportunities Fund, The English Lake District - A Living Landscape, at www.cumbrialakes.org.

There they will find a databank of 4,000 images of the Lake District and other parts of Cumbria, such as Hadrian's Wall. The images range from old prints to maps to photographs.

Entrants are then asked to select an image which they can recreate today from the same viewpoint, so that the old and new images can be "morphed" on screen to change from one to the other.

Elizabeth Mullineaux, of Cumbria County Council archive service, who has managed the project which established the databank of images on the internet, said: "The closer the modern picture is to the original image, the better. The winning entries will be mounted on the website as real life 'morphs', just like the ones already viewable at www.cumbrialakes.org/mapflash.asp."

The competition is open to both professional and amateur photographers.Closing date is October 31, 2004. Images are to be emailed via the "Contact Us" button on the website, or directly to lizabeth.Mullineaux@cumbriacc.gov.uk. First prize is £200 worth of vouchers for photographic goods.Second and third prizes are vouchers worth £50.