From textile mills – that still remain part of the fabric of the city – to 40 years of Columbia’s longest running festival, the Jubilee, our history writes our future, and we need your help telling it.

Introducing the #COLAYearbookChallenge. We want to play a game of show and tell to highlight what our city used to look like. They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words + we’re giving $100 (plus a COLAtoday feature) to the winner of our reader's favorite historic photo.

Are you a longtime local, or do your parents/grandparents have an amazing scrapbook laying around that's full of COLA gold? What do you remember about Columbia of late? Maybe you were here when Belk was on Main St. or your grandparents knew how Cola used to beat the heat in the 50s.

In 2019 we want to publish more memories of our city’s history. Here’s how to get involved in our 2019 throwback articles here at COLAtoday + enter our first annual #COLAYearbookChallenge.

Dust off those old photo albums. What photos do you review and say “wow, I can’t believe how much the city has changed.” We're looking for reader photos of our city from years past. Whether they’re from 50 or 10 years ago – We want to see them.

- Post your photo on social media using both #COLAYearbookChallenge and #COLAtoday.
- Or, send photos to hello@colatoday.com (or reply to this email) with the subject line “COLA Scrapbook Challenge photos.”
- Include 1 - 6 sentences of what the photos are, and what the photo means to you.
- Let us know when + where the photo was taken.
- Include photo credit. Even if you took the photo, please include your name so we can properly attribute you.
- By sending us photos, you have given us permission to publish across COLAtoday including our newsletter, website + social media platforms.

After you send us photos (please send by Jan. 30), we’ll put together a collage of our favorites. Then, we’ll bring it to you, our readers, to vote. Once you decide on the winning photo, we’ll contact the winner + feature them here in COLAtoday.

Plus, throughout 2019, we’ll repost photos from the #COLAYearbookChallenge, so keep tagging us in your favorite throwback images of our city. We can’t wait to explore historic Columbia with you.

Questions about our #COLAYearbookChallenge? Reply to this email + let us know.

Here at the office, we’re always amazed at the passion our readers have about where the city has been + where it’s going.

We could spend hours chatting with the folks at Historic Columbia + scrolling through posts on the “You may be from Columbia, SC if you remember when….” Facebook group.

We can’t wait to explore your memories of our wonderful city with you.

–The COLAtoday team