Mumbai : Building upon its Italian heritage and linking back to Art, Culture, Innovation and Fashion, Barista Lavazza along with Panasonic Lumix digital cameras has launched yet another innovative and creative contest for the coffee lovers – the Click-a-Coffee contest in association with VH1 and 92.7 Big FM (Suno Sunao Life Banao) . The contest invites all photography enthusiasts – amateurs, beginners and all other unpublished creative minds to get behind the lens and unleash their creativity in the form of photographs. To be judged by India’s leading and ace photographer Pradeep Dasgupta, shortlisted pictures will get an opportunity to feature in India’s first coffee table book by amateur photographers. The rider – all photographs have to feature, in some form, the Barista Lavazza signature cup.

The contest, which started on March 23, 2013, invites all artistic souls to share their creative vision and photographic talent. To participate, all one has to do is register at any Barista Lavazza café in Delhi/NCR,  Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad and get a free Barista Lavazza signature cup from their nearest Barista Lavazza cafe. Participants have to then share their creative visions, captured along with Barista Lavazza signature cup, a line on the inspiration or story behind the picture, and upload it on Barista Lavazza facebook page (/BaristaLavazza). Patrons can send in their entries, multiple or single, until April 10, 2013.

At the end of the contest, India’s leading and award winning photographer Pradeep Dasgupta, with 30 years of photography history behind him, will select 100 images from the entries, which will then form a part of the first-of-its-kind coffee table book, and will find proud shelf space in key Barista Lavazza cafes around the country. He will officially launch the book in one of the Barista Lavazza cafes in Delhi. This unique book will have a preface written by the eminent photographer and his inspiration behind the selection, and all selected entries will have name of the capturer, along with the inspiration behind the picture.

Launching this new initiative, Mr. Nilanjan Bhattacharya, COO, India and SAARC at Barista Lavazza said, “Innovation being central to all that we do, we at Barista Lavazza have always endeavored to provide our patrons an opportunity to do something different, something creative, something inspiring. With the launch of Click-a-Coffee we are giving our patrons an opportunity to share their creativity and inspiration with us. Ingenious and inspiring, the photography contest is a first-of-its-kind by any café in the country and takes Barista Lavazza’s equity in bringing innovative and fresh ideas to the youth a notch higher. We are proud and happy to associate with world-class photographer Pradeep Dasgupta, who will not only be judging the entries but also giving our patrons an opportunity to become a part of coffee table book history”.

Barista Lavazza plans to convert the photography contest into an annual property, in lines with its very popular annual event, the Barista Lavazza Friendship Jam which is extremely popular with the youth and Barista Lavazza fans. To encourage participation and create awareness about the click-a-coffee campaign, Barista Lavazza will be using BTL promotion tools such as Posters, Tent Cards, standees, show window artworks and digital campaigns on their website and FB page.

As a brand, Barista Lavazza associates with leading of the industry – Rina Dhaka during the launch of Milano Collezioni (launch of India’s first ever theme based menu inspired by Fashion), launch of renowned author’s books through its association with Penguin Books India, and now Pradeep Dasgupta, India’s ace photographer, to bring out the talent of its patrons.