Our Continent, Our Future” – Photo & Essay Contest.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Planning and Coordinating Agency (hereinafter referred to as the “NEPAD Agency”) and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP – EU (hereinafter referred to as “CTA”) have joined forces in celebrating 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).   It is within this context of Pan Africanism and African Renaissance, which is this year’s AU Summit theme that the NEPAD Agency and CTA are jointly organising a Photo and Essay Contest which will from April 2 to May 10, 2013.

The Contest will focus on Youth, Women and Rural Agricultural Development. Photo (hereinafter referred to the “Photo” or the “Photos”) entries will depict what NEPAD Agency and its partners are doing in empowering rural youth and women in agriculture.

The Photos and Essays can make reference to NEPAD Programmes and Projects where youth development is directly and indirectly involved such as Gender, Food and Nutrition Security, the School Feeding scheme CAADP and Climate Change.

Entry Categories

Amateur category (Photo): 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place for best Photo depicting the theme and title of contest.

Essay category: 1^st, 2nd and 3^rd Prize for best written essay on NEPAD and rural empowerment through agriculture of youth and women.

Awards and Prizes

Amateur category (Photo):

1st place: R 20 000 and a Digital Camera

2nd place: R 1 000 and a Digital Camera

3rd place: R 5 000 and a Digital Camera

Essay category:

1st place: R 30 000

2nd place: R 20 000

3rd place: R10 000

It is expressly agreed that the winning Photos and the wining Essays shall be printed out and framed, captioned and exhibited at Africa Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa for one (1) month or more

The winning Photos and Essays might also be displayed at the special African Union’s 50th Anniversary Summit in Addis Ababa and during the Africa Week on NEPAD during the United Nations General Assembly in September 2013, in New York, when world leaders will meet to recommit and redouble their efforts in the fight extreme poverty, uses expressly acknowledged and agreed by each entrant/contestant.

The winning Photos will be printed into posters and branded with the NEPAD logo and tagline for used at NEPAD Agency all events and public engagements, whatever their nature and duration, whenever and wherever they shall take place in the world.

Period

02 April – 10 May 2013 (closes at 24:00 CAT)

Eligibility

• The Contest is open to all youth aged 13 to 35, who are citizens of African Union Member States, with no restrictions on gender. Minors are responsible for ensuring their submission is in compliance with the legal requirements of their country (hereinafter referred to as the “Contestant” or the “Contestants”).
• Photos must have been taken in the past six months, i.e., not before November 2012
• The Essay cannot be more than 1 page;
• Entry is free of charge.
• All entries not respecting the theme or the technical/authorship requirements set out below will be systematically ruled out.
• Staff members, including immediate family members, working for NEPAD Agency, the African Union, CTA including other partners and sponsors of this competition are not qualified to participate in the contest.

 

Submission Rules

• There will be two categories of contestants: a) amateur (photo) and b) essay.
• Contestants may enter either as amateurs (photo) or essay, but not both.
• The Photos should be a vertical shot for purposes of turning it into a poster.
• Only images not yet published may be submitted. Photographers can publish their photos after the contest results are announced in May, 2013
• Photos entered will not be returned to contestants and will be used in the NEPAD Agency publications and website.

 

Submission Guideline

All photo entries must provide images with the following specifications.

• Image data files created with digital still cameras (including medium and large-format cameras).
• File format: JPEG
• File size per JPEG: more than 1500 x 2100 pixels/more than 150dpi/up to a minimum 2MB
• Photo files can be submitted in the following formats: JPEG, PNG and GIF.
• No Photo should be digitally altered or enhanced except for basic cropping or colour correction. The content and context of the image should in no way be altered or enhanced.
• Each image that is sent should include the following information:
  Full name and contact details of Contestant; location of Photo; date Photo was taken; include a caption of the Photo(s), and the full name of the person/people with their image captured in the Photo(s).
• The information must be repeated on the entry form.

* Note: Winners may be requested to provide higher resolution images for publication or display purposes related to the Contest.

All Essay entries should include the following documents:

• The Essay in word format; a cover page will be included and on this page, the category for which the Essay is submitted must be clearly indicated;
• A short biographical note (to introduce the applicant/Contestant), including his/her full contact details (email address, telephone number(s), postal address, town, country, etc.)
• The Essay cannot be more than 500 words.

 

How to Enter

After carefully reading all the information on this page, download the entry form below, fill it in and send your image/essay along with the entry form to [email protected]

Submissions must be made via laptop; desktop computer; tablet computer or smartphone.

Notification to Winners

The winners will be notified through email by end of May 2013.

Download entry form