• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, May 14, 2007

Hewlett-Packard is kicking off a series of online photo contests that merge themes from the upcoming movie "Shrek the Third" with contestants' family memories.

Since last Friday, participants have the opportunity over the next six weeks to win one of more than 3,000 prizes, including a grand prize of an HP Digital Home Entertainment package and a trip for four to attend an upcoming DreamWorks Animation movie.

"Life, like 'Shrek the Third,' is full of enchanted moments, and great photos are what make them last," said Kathy Stromberg, vice president/marketing, North America, Imaging and Printing Group, HP, in a news release. "This photo contest provides an engaging and dynamic new way for users to creatively showcase photos of their families' heroic, adventurous and funny moments."

HP also announced "Shrek the Third"-themed personalized photo products available through Snapfish by HP, the company's online photo service, at snapfish.com/storeshrek and the HP Activity Center at hp.com/go/shrekprojects.

In collaboration with DreamWorks Animation SKG, HP is encouraging people to tell their own stories of adventure and triumph through photos matching themes of Shrek and Princess Fiona's adventures.

HP will host a series of six photo contests with weekly themes including "Far Far Away," "Go Green" and "My Little Ogre." Contestants will be encouraged to submit a photo that they think best fits the theme of the contest for that week. People will be encouraged to vote for the one photo each week that they believe best captures the true spirit of the Shrek story.

Each week, the three highest publicly voted Shrek photo contest winners will be entered into the grand prize drawing. Contestants can submit photos at hp.com/shrek.

In addition, HP will award prizes to more than 600 participants each week, including HP photo printers and digital cameras, Snapfish gift cards and Shrek-related products.

The contest should help acquaint consumers with new products recently released by HP. Snapfish by HP, for example, now offers its members and those of its co-branded partner sites access to customizable "Shrek the Third" photo products.

Snapfish users also have the ability to edit photos with Snapfish's expansive line of photo-editing tools and sharing capabilities.

In addition, the HP.com Activity Center will have select photo products available for customization from users' home PCs. Consumers will be able to use with interactive projects, including an elaborate 3D Shrek kingdom, fabric book bags, iron-ons, stationery kits, party kits and 3D mobiles.

Revenues at HP in the last fiscal year ended Jan. 31 hit $94.1 billion. In 2006, the company spent $238.3 million on advertising, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.