ORGANIZED BY: Friends of the Earth International, La vía Campesina, the Movement of Victims Affected by Climate Change

Friends of the Earth International is the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, uniting 77 diverse national member groups and some 5,000 local activist groups on every continent. With more than 2 million members and supporters around the world, we campaign on today’s most urgent environmental and social issues. We challenge the current model of economic and corporate globalization, and promote solutions that will help to create environmentally sustainable and socially just societies.

La vía Campesina is an international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers. They develop solidarity and unity among small farmer organizations in order to promote gender parity and social justice in fair economic relations; the preservation of land, water, seeds and other natural resources; food sovereignty; and sustainable agricultural production based on small and medium-sized producers.

The Movement of Victims Affected by Climate Change (MOVIACC), still in development, consists of groups who are creating a process of mobilization, resistance and transformation in order to put pressure on the political authorities and those in power to protect natural resources, reduce land vulnerability and demand justice and sovereignty.”

1. Who can enter?

TERRITORY: international

ENTRANT STATUS: amateur, professional

AGE LIMITATIONS: none

2. Competition info

ENTRY CLOSES: 1st April 2010

ENTRY TYPE: email, mail

ENTRY FEE: free

3. What should photos be about?

The theme is “Acting in Solidarity and Building Movements for Change“.

The theme of this year’s competition grew from our conviction that people working together can have a powerful impact in bringing about a better world.

Acting in solidarity is when people join together to support each other’s struggles. It involves understanding, responsibility, commitment, and for people in many parts of the world, great courage. Without solidarity, movements cannot grow and bring about the social, environmental, economic and political change that people around the world are calling for.

In recent years, we have seen the massive growth of movements for change. These movements are mobilizing people who reject the current model of neoliberal economic globalization and environmental destruction in favor of a peaceful, just and sustainable world. As these movements grow in size and power, they offer a serious challenge to the ‘business-as-usual’ model that exploits people and the environment.

For this competition we are looking for photos of people working in solidarity in order to bring about change, as well as photos of social movements in action.”

There are 2 categories:

• Acting in Solidarity – Photos that capture the essence of solidarity between people. People connecting and supporting each other, often transcending boundaries of age, race, gender and class, in order to reach a common goal. Solidarity implies courage, emotion, connection and collaboration.
• Movements of Change – Photos that capture the power and passion of movements for social and environmental change. These might include marches, demonstrations, protests, vigils, non-violent direct actions, occupations, festivals, and so forth.

Maximum 6 images per entry, maximum 3 images per category.

4. Photo Requirements

AREA WHERE IT CAN BE TAKEN: anywhere

AGE OF PHOTO: no limit

IMAGE FORMAT: Digital: at least 1819 x 2598 pixels [154 x 220mm horizontal] at 300 dpi resolution, jpeg format, maximum file size 10 MB. Prints: 300 dpi, 8.5 by 5.5 inches.

PHOTO EDITING: There is no information about any restrictions.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Entries should not have won previous competitions, and should not have been published elsewhere.

5. Legal Issues

> Your legal responsibilities

Entries must be your own work.”

> Photo usage rights

By entering the contest, you give Friends of the Earth International, our member groups, La vía Campesina and the Movement of Victims Affected by Climate Change permission to publish the submitted photo(s) in our calendar, photo exhibit and other materials. Published photos will be credited with your name, e-mail address and/or website. If you do not wish your photos to be used for materials other than the calendar and photo exhibit, please make that clear when you submit the photos.”

6. Judging

JUDGING CRITERIA: There is no information how the photographs will be judged.

> Judges

• Akintunde Akinleye, first-place winner World Press Photo 2007, from Nigeria
• G.M.B. Akash, Bangladeshi photographer, winner of many prestigious global awards and first-place winner of the 2006 Friends of the Earth International photo competition
• Peter Menzel, award-winning US photojournalist and author of “Hungry Planet: What The World Eats”
• Kadir van Lohuizen, award-winning Dutch photojournalist, author of Diamond Matters
• Luis Romero, Associated Press photo journalist from El Salvador
• representatives of Friends of the Earth International

7. Prizes

1st place in each category: 400 EUR

2nd place in each category: 200 EUR

3rd place in each category: 100 EUR

Popular choice in each category (selected by member groups and allies)

The best shots will be featured in materials produced by these organizations and social movements, including a 2011 calendar and an international photo exhibition.”

8. Useful Links

Need inspiration? See what images have won in 2008 and 2009!

Ready to enter? Send each photo in separate email to photos@foei.org.

Official website of the competition (with official rules):
http://www.foei.org/en/get-involved/photo/fifth-annual-photo-competition

I cannot take any responsibility for changing of rules or mistypes in this article. This article has only an informative nature. For official rules always refer to the official website!

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