2006 Photoshare Photo Contest Winners

Best of Show | Photoshare Image of the Year | Outstanding Photoshare Contributor | Best of Category | Honorable Mention | Contest Judges

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 30, 2007

Photo from India Honored in 4th Annual Photoshare
 Photo Contest Sponsored By Hopkins' INFO Project and Canon

 

BALTIMORE - A photo of a polio-affected boy participating in an athletic meet in Chandigarth, India won 1st Place/Best of Show at the 4th Annual Photoshare Photo Contest. Pradeep Tewari submitted the winning photo in the competition sponsored by The INFO Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's/Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and Canon.

The Information and Knowledge for Optimal Health Project (INFO) is a reproductive health knowledge-sharing resource supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). INFO's Photoshare service helps international non-profits communicate health and development issues through photography. By facilitating photo sharing among colleagues in international development, Photoshare has become a leading source for editorial development photography. The Photoshare collection, consisting primarily of photos taken by public health professionals in the field, contains thousands of images illustrating the realities of urban and rural life in developing countries, as well as global efforts to improve and save lives, www.photoshare.org.

Open to amateurs and professionals alike, the contest drew interest from around the globe, including more than 294 participants who submitted more than 941 photos shot in 94 different countries. 

2006 Photoshare Photo Contest Winners

Best Of Show

1st Place

Pradeep Tewari A polio-affected boy participates in an athletic meet organized for slum children by the NGO Pustak in Chandigarth, India. Judges' Comment: This is a stunning picture with a highly dynamic foreground that is perfectly integrated into the rest of the picture, not hiding anything, instead showing and structuring all that has to be seen in the background. We don’t often get the chance to see the soles of shoes in photography, and this one really does it well!

2nd Place

Felix Masi Rural deputy headteacher Jackson Kanani and other commuters wade through a flooded road to school in Funyula Basia, Kenya. Jackson, a teacher at Bukhwamba primary school, is one of the teachers facing the hardships of instilling knowledge in the future scholars and businessmen and women of Kenya. Some teachers travel as far as 15 km each day to get to school, and are poorly paid for their efforts. Judges' Comment: This is a moving picture that talks about the efforts and conviction of those who believe in education to improve their living conditions.

3rd Place

Paul Jeffrey At a Methodist church distribution center in Trincomale, Sri Lanka, volunteers unload boxes of crackers to be distributed to tsunami victims.   Judges' Comment: This is an unusual shot, taken from below, with the lens pointed up at the sky and the clouds, creating shadows and silhouettes of people that make them seem “universal.”  The photo successfully illustrates solidarity and voluntarism, two of the basics of humanitarian assistance.

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Photoshare Image of the Year

Selected by Photoshare Staff

Shehu Danlami Salihu Village families in Nigeria wait in line for HIV/AIDS voluntary counseling and testing (VCT). Photoshare Staff Comments: Documenting the realities of rural health services this image reminds us of the important role of VCT in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Submitted last year to Photoshare, Salihu’s photo has been requested eight times by a variety of international organizations. This personal and strongly composed image captures the pursuit for health services in rural Nigeria and illustrates the promise of voluntary counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS.

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Outstanding Photoshare Contributor

Selected by Photoshare Staff

Anil Gulati Photoshare Staff Comments: Anil Gulati is an enthusiastic amateur photographer serving various private and non-profit civil society organizations in India. As a Photoshare contributor, Anil has demonstrated his commitment to using photography to improve health and save lives. “I find it gives a real world of expression to things happening around us,” he says of his digital camera and best travel companion. Since first contributing to Photoshare in 2005 Gulati’s excitement has been continuous, taking time to caption and send new images regularly. Anil says, “Photoshare is the best place for people like us, who enjoy photography and want organizations to take advantage of our work for the benefit of people.” Gulati’s eagerness to share and his “learning by practice” training are proof of his dedication to “helping others give voice to issues concerning the environment and the realities of human life.”

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Best of Category

Family Planning & Reproductive Health

Pradeep Tewari Puja Thakur, an HIV positive woman speaks about HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, and sexual rights of women to government school students in the village of Kaimbwala near Chandigarh, India. Judges’ Comment: This photo documents a strong humanist moment of sharing experience and knowledge between women. The camera witnesses the relationship between the women without interfering or distracting from what is happening in the scene. The photo features a soft and “tender” natural light, good composition, and effective positioning of the main subject.

HIV/AIDS

Steven Nowakowski A HIV/AIDS counselor hangs a sign on her door stating her counselling office is full in Angau Hospital, Lae, Papua New Guinea. HIV/AIDS has the potential to cripple the country at current rates of infection. Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS carries a stigma which forces victims to leave their communities and often end up on the streets. Judges' Comment: This photo is a strong reminder of the presence of AIDS, but sends a positive message that many individuals are seeking counseling.

Environment
	Ben Barber Children rinse off with fresh water provided by an aid group after the Great Tsunami of 2004 destroyed their town of Calong in Aceh, Indonesia. Judges’ Comment: This photo offers a frank and fresh laugh to balance out the desolation of the scene.

Agricultural & Economic Development
	Paul Jeffrey A young girl looks on as women plant potatoes in the highland village of Cotani Alto, Bolivia. Judges’ Comment: This photo features a graphic composition combining plenty of rounds: round hats, roundness of the potatoes, and the little girl’s round face. The view is from a high level, which makes the scene unexpected, and the little girl’s expression is perfect.

Democracy & Governance

Paul Jeffrey Hondurans protest outside a Tegucigalpa hotel where U.S. and Central American officials meet to negotiate a regional trade pact. Many Central Americans worry that the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) doesn't take into account the needs of workers and small farmers, and will thus worsen inequalities and force more migration to the U.S.   Judges’ Comment: This action photo shows good timing and good movement of the arm combined with the strength of the clenched fists. It’s a good shot of people fighting for what they believe is right.

Humanitarian Assistance

Paul Jeffrey At a Methodist church distribution center in Trincomale, Sri Lanka, volunteers unload boxes of crackers to be distributed to tsunami victims. Judges' Comment: This is an unusual shot, taken from below, with the lens pointed up at the sky and the clouds, creating shadows and silhouettes of people that make them seem “universal.”  The photo successfully illustrates solidarity and voluntarism, two of the basics of humanitarian assistance.

Global Health

Pradeep Tewari A polio-affected boy participates in an athletic meet organized for slum children by the NGO Pustak in Chandigarth, India. Judges' Comment: This is a stunning picture with a highly dynamic foreground that is perfectly integrated into the rest of the picture, not hiding anything, instead showing and structuring all that has to be seen in the background. We don’t often get the chance to see the soles of shoes in photography, and this one really does it well!

Human Interest

Felix Masi Rural deputy headteacher Jackson Kanani and other commuters wade through a flooded road to school in Funyula Basia, Kenya. Jackson, a teacher at Bukhwamba primary school, is one of the teachers facing the hardships of instilling knowledge in the future scholars and businessmen and women of Kenya. Some teachers travel as far as 15 km each day to get to school, and are poorly paid for their efforts. Judges' Comment: This is a moving picture that talks about the efforts and conviction of those who believe in education to improve their living conditions.

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Honorable Mention

Family Planning and Reproductive Health
	Basil A. Safi Hanaa Ali Mohamed has been a member of the Communication for Healthy Living (CHL)-sponsored Ante-natal and Post-partum Care Program in Egypt over the last four months. This intervention helps couples to plan and manage their first pregnancy, through the delivery and postpartum periods, which are crucial areas for helping to lower maternal and childhood illness.

HIV/AIDS

Matthew Willman In the rural district of Josini, South Africa, a mother caring for 5 HIV positive children speaks about her issues and problems with several "Community Carers." The Oxfam Australia-funded program Sibambisene ("we are working together") trains these "Community Carers" to go into the rural communities of the KwaZulu-Natal province and educate, support, and help guide families who are affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS.

Environment

Akintunde Akinleye Nigerians scoop up petrol after a defective oil pipe belonging to Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation burst in Iyana Ipaja neighborhood of Lagos, Nigeria. Many Nigerians have been killed or burned to death by gaseous flames emitting from petroleum products as a result of burst pipelines that run through major towns and villages both in rural and urban centers. And in most parts of the country where oil exploration occurs, the people are exposed to high risks of premature death, cancer, and respiratory illness as a result of gaseous flares.

Agricultural and Economic Development
	Richard Nyberg Village chief of Boula Téné, Theodore Mada Keita, holds up the fonio grain that helps feed his family in southern Senegal. With USAID support, his community is working to better process and sell this nutritious grain, which is increasingly in demand in specialty markets overseas.

Democracy and Governance
	Richard Niyonzima A man conducts voter registration in the rural village of Mabungo, Uganda. Such activity, where everyone participates, restores confidence in the local people that the government takes them seriously, which helps bring total democracy and accountability.

Humanitarian Assistance

David Snyder A man displaced by the war in Lebanon volunteers to help prepare food for the other 400 people living in a school in Beirut to escape the fighting further south. International and local non-governmental organizations provided the food, bedding, cooking utensils, and other emergency items to those living at the school. More than 980,000 people - one quarter of Lebanon's total population - were displaced by the war.

Global Health
	Emily J. Phillips/Management Sciences For Health - MSH A young Afghan mother of 15 receives a vaccination with her child in Ghor Province, Afghanistan. Immunizations are vital for preventing the spread of disease among the millions of Afghans that live in rural areas where the health facilities are basic mud and brick buildings with few medical staff.

Human Interest
	Karen Smith Young girls in Bugiri, Uganda, promote education for girls.

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Contest Judges

Entries were judged on the basis of content and quality by an independent panel of volunteer judges. Stéphane Janin, Sammy Ndwiga, and Todd Shapera generously volunteered their time to serve on the international panel of judges. Stéphane, a Cambodia based photojournalist manages Popil PhotoGallery in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Ndwiga is a freelance photographer and videographer in Kenya. Shapera is a U.S. based photojournalist and writer covering Tsunami recovery in Sri Lanka, rainforest preservation in Central America, and coffee farmers in Peru.