Photographers, film makers, comedians and writers are invited to take part in a series of competitions being held as part of the London Bridge Festival this July.

The festival runs from the July 10 - 25, and opens with a free party on London Bridge – which will be closed to traffic – on Saturday, July 11, celebrating the bridge’s 800th anniversary. Everyone’s invited! Then comedians, actors and bards will provide two weeks’ of entertainment as the streets that inspired Shakespeare, Chaucer and Dickens open their bars and theatres for new and established acts.

Headline comedians include Marcus Brigstocke, Stephen K Amos, Brendon Burns and Funny Women Awards winners Suzy Bennet and Andi Osho; allowing Londoners and others to catch them before they go to Edinburgh. The Southwark Playhouse is showing a series of plays around the subject of Secrets.
 

And, a series of competitions will underline the creative explosion planned on the streets surrounding London Bridge:

The 48 Hours Short Film Competition asks directors, crew, actors and writers to make a film in two days. They’ll be given a title and genre by the festival organisers on July 10, with the challenge of writing, shooting, editing and submitting a short film on July 12 at the Roxy Bar and Screen, a well-known indie film house, where there’ll be a chill out party for participants handing in their hurried masterpieces. More

The Photography Competition takes two defining factors of London life as its theme: Glamour and Grime. Entries are needed by noon on July 17.  Daily Telegraph photo-journalist Kate Day will judge, and the three winners get to go to the Festival Wrap Party. More

With the pervading themes of Glamour and Grime, people can enter their Short Stories to the Festival’s Writing Competition. Shortlisted entries will be read at a special performance reading at the Old Operating Theatre in SE1. The Times Literary Supplement is supporting the competition. Deadline for entries is noon, July 17. More

And finally, new and recently established comedy acts should contact greg@londonbridgefestival.com to apply to enter the London's New Comedy Awards, cash and a professional gig at the Up the Arts Comedy Club are the prizes.

Notes to Editors: The London Bridge Festival is going to be a great event. We hope these competitions will inspire your readers to take part.  And, please put the 2nd of July – early evening – in your own diaries for a very special press launch. Details to follow shortly.

We’re hoping to make this a festival with as few flyers and bits of paper as possible. Any publicity you can give us would be greatly appreciated.