12:00a.m. 11th September 2007

| By Blythe Seinor

Jennifer Reginato in front of the Point Cartwright lighthouse, which will be lit up in pink for breast cancer awareness. Photo: Chris McCormack

They did it at the Empire State Building in New York.

The Sydney Opera House had its turn and so did Kensington Palace.

Now the time has come for the Point Cartwright Lighthouse to bask in its own pink glow for Breast Cancer Month.

It will be the first time a Sunshine Coast landmark has participated in the Global Illumination Initiative.

“We’ve seen photos of how the others look and it’s spectacular,” Jennifer Reginato, from the Coast Breast Cancer Foundation, said.

Ms Reginato said the Point Cartwright Lighthouse was the foundation’s number-one choice for a Coast landmark.

“We thought if we aim for that it would be fantastic, and we got it,’’ she said.

“You can’t miss the lighthouse, especially if the weather fines up.”

A special gel will be painted over the lighthouse lights on September 26 and will illuminate pink for two weeks.

Ms Reginato said all the lighthouses had been through the same system and the procedure “was not too difficult.”

The aim of the global illumination is to raise awareness about breast cancer, which is the most common form of cancer among Australian women.

More than 13,000 women and 95 men are expected to be diagnosed this year. A total of 2600 Australian women die from breast cancer each year.

Eleven Australian cities will take part in the initiative over the next few weeks, including the Gold Coast and Brisbane.

The towering M1 building in Surfers Paradise will be lit up for the third year in a row, as will the Story Bridge.

A gala fundraising dinner will be held in each city to coincide with each illumination. The aim is to raise $1 million for the National Breast Cancer Foundation through these events.

The Coast’s gala night will be a cocktail party at Mooloolaba Surf Club on October 4.