Notice – published 15th June 2009

SOS Malta invites photographers and photo journalists to participate in a national Photo Competition entitled ‘Engaging Photographers in Development and the Fight against Poverty’ (closing date: 1st September 2009)

The national Photo Competition forms part of a project, Media Engagement in Development Issues and Promotion (MEDIP), aimed at sensitizing journalists and media within New EU Member States about development issues and the Millennium Development Goals. Through the media, the project seeks to create greater consciousness amongst policy makers, the business community, as well as the general public.

MEDIP is being funded by the European Commission in the framework of the thematic programme 'Non State Actors and Local Authorities in Development', which aims at supporting small scale initiatives proposed and/or carried out by civil society organisations and local authorities originating from the Community and partner countries in the area of development.  More particularly, MEDIP is co-funded within the framework of the programme's objective of fostering education for development in Europe.

Implementing partners of the MEDIP project include: SOS Malta, Jaan Tonisson Institute (Estonia), Foundation for Development of Democratic Rights (Hungary), European Institute of Cyprus, Slovene Philanthropy and Civil Society Development Foundation (Romania).

The national Photo Competition which is being organized by SOS Malta is one among six national Competitions which are taking place in six EU Member States respectively.

The photographer with the winning entry in the national Competition taking place in Malta will receive a prize, courtesy of Air Malta, consisting of two return flight tickets to any European destination of his/her choice on an Air Malta scheduled route network. The second and third prize winners will be presented with a trophy.
 
The entries ranked by the national selection committees in the first three placings will automatically enter a transnational MEDIP Photo Competition. The photographer with the winning image for the transnational Competition will be presented with a special award and will receive 1000 EUR worth of photographic equipment. 

The Photo Competitions are all focused on the theme of ‘The Millennium Development Goals and Development Issues’. The aim of the Photo Competitions is to facilitate image-based communication to members of the general public in New Member States, issues related to the fight against poverty especially within developing countries.  Photos entered for the national Competitions relate to one of the eight Millennium Development Goals committed to by world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000.

Works submitted in answer to the national Photo Competition in Malta shall all be displayed during a three-day exhibition which will be organized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Valletta from the 15th to the 17th of October 2009 and which will be open to the general public.

The winning photo as well as the first two runners-up of the national Competition will also be exhibited during similar events being organized in Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary, Estonia and Romania, as well as at a joint exhibition planned for December 2009 within an EU institution in Brussels.

To download the Rules of Conditions of Entry, click here

To download the Entry Form, click here