The Matadors Community Credit Union (MCCU) will begin accepting entries from members and non-members for a photo/video contest beginning Nov.1. The winner will receive $250 and $100 will be awarded to the second place.

The MCCU is a not-for-profit financial institution that provides free checking accounts, college checking accounts, over 30,000 atms nationwide, online services such as mobile banking and online bill pay and many other services at little to no cost to its members. It caters to CSUN students, alumni, athletic boosters, faculty, staff and residents of the San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley, and Santa Clarita.

The Northridge branch is conveniently located at the intersection of Vincennes St. and Reseda Blvd. near campus.

“We just wanted to do something fun and engaging for our members and people in the community and just bring more attention to the credit union and the benefits of being a member of the credit union,” Vice President of Marketing for MCCU Marnie Nemcoff said, who developed the idea for the contest.

Both members and non-members will be able to participate in the contest by uploading their photo or video to MCCU’s Facebook page beginning Nov.1 through Nov.15.

Nemcoff encourages everyone to participate and show off their creativity through things such as a skit, reading a poem, a jingle, a song, a photo or photoshopped image.

The submissions will be online from Nov. 16 until Nov.30 where participants can share their work on Facebook and others can vote on their favorite entry.

Nemcoff explained that this is the first time this contest is being held and may become an annual competition, depending on its success this year.

“I hadn’t heard about the competition because I’m not a member but I think that the contest is a cool idea for the bank to themselves out there more,” said Clarissa Jones, 21, who studies art at CSUN. “I love doing those sorts of contests so I think I’ll look into it and see what I can come up with.”

The winners will be chosen the week of Dec. 2.