Winning billboard photo to lure Bruce Hwy drivers to Tannum

THE Boyne Tannum community is backing a new project aimed at luring Bruce Highway travellers to drive the extra few kilometres to visit the tidiest beach in Qld

Boyne Tannum Arts Business and Community members Maxine Brushe, Tricia Doherty, Ron Doherty, Fred Brushe, Kahn Goodluck, Ian Anderson and Cecily Burkett want a billboard to advertise Tannum Sands main beach on the Bruce Hwy. Picture: Matt Taylor GLA280618SIGN

THE Boyne Tannum community is backing a new project aimed at luring Bruce Highway travellers to drive the extra few kilometres to visit the tidiest beach in Queensland.

Boyne Tannum Arts Business and Community has launched a billboard photography competition with the aim of making highway drivers aware an award-winning beach is just seven kilometres away.

The winning photo that best showcases the beauty of Tannum Sands beach will be printed on a highway billboard, a few hundred metres from Old Tannum Rd, for 12 months.

BTABC president Kahn Goodluck said the region was missing out on potential tourists by not highlighting it had the closest beach to the highway between Brisbane and Carmila.

Gladstone regional councillor PJ Sobhanian, membership chairperson for Boyne Island Lions Club Ian Anderson and Regional Manager of Conservation Volunteers Australia Linda Fahle on Tannum Sands Beach, after it was named Queensland's Cleanest Beach. Picture: Matt Taylor GLA060618BEACH

Igniting the group's recent push to promote the natural assets at Tannum Sands was the region's recent win as the Tidy Towns' tidiest beach in Queensland.

"We decided to put it to a photography competition to get the community engaged and give it a bit of hype too," Mr Goodluck said.

"We also wanted to get people thinking about the fantastic natural assets we have."

There has been previous attempts and discussions about signage on the highway signalling drivers to the Tannum Sands Millennium Esplanade, however, these did not come to pass.

The Gladstone Area Promotion Development Limited was unable to secure funding for a sign under a tourism grant because Tannum Sands does not have an information centre.

Mr Goodluck said the group had received 20 photos so far, ranging from landscape photos to snaps of families and children playing at the beach.

Just moments from a spectacular coastline at Tannum Sands Discovery Parks. Picture: TripAdvisor

BTABC member and former Gladstone Regional Councillor Maxine Brushe said the sign would also benefit businesses at Boyne Island and Tannum Sands.

"Hopefully everyone who turns to go to the beach will also grab a coffee or something to eat," she said.

The entries will be judged by members of the Boyne Island Lions Club and the BTABC, with the winner announced at the Beach Arts Music event on July 7.