The first Children's Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Festival & Exhibition will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 12-14 May 2103. This event, which aims to raise awareness of environmental issues through the eyes of young people and their photographs, will be a chance to view the best 100 images from the inaugural Children’s Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest, which took place last summer. With the themes “I Love Nature” and “I Fear Pollution”, the Contest drew thousands of entries from young people in over 90 countries around the world.

Website: Children's Eyes On Earth

 

Press Release

ANNOUNCING THE CHILDREN’S EYES ON EARTH INTERNATIONAL YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHY FESTIVAL & EXHIBITION 2013

Baku, Azerbaijan
12th – 14th May 2013
Sponsored by IDEA campaign
www.childrenseyesonearth.org

Following the success of the inaugural Children’s Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest last summer, we are thrilled to announce the first International Youth Photography Festival & Exhibition, which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 12th – 14th May 2103.

This exciting event, which aims to raise awareness of environmental issues through the eyes of young people and their photographs, will be a chance to view the best 100 images from the Contest.

The Children’s Eyes On Earth global initiative was organized by Leyla Aliyeva, founder of the non-governmental organisation IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action) and REZA, renowned photographer and founder of the non-governmental organisation AINA World.

With the themes “I Love Nature” and “I Fear Pollution”, the Contest drew thousands of entries from young people in over 90 countries around the world. This Contest was the first step for Reza’s global project in bringing awareness to children, concerning the planet’s social and environmental issues, while using the language of images. Reza wishes to now accompany, train and expose the young talented photographers of the contest through a festival.

The Festival & Exhibition will give the talented Contest winners the unique opportunity to develop their photography skills through a series of events and workshops in Baku. A vibrant celebration of photography and the environment, Festival highlights will include outdoor exhibition, film screenings, seminars and an opening-night Awards Ceremony.

Eight-year-old Anastasya Vorobko from Saint Petersburg in Russia was the winner of the Children’s Eyes On Earth Contest, with her image SOS! Showing an artistic maturity beyond her years, the
photograph depicts a bird flying over the thick smog being emitted from a factory funnel and conveys her fear of the pollution which affects her local environment.

Reza says: "The 100 incredible photographs that will be on display at the Festival are visual poems. They reflect the deep thoughts of young people and reveal how they see the incredible beauty of the world and the dangerous threat that pollution poses to our planet, its wildlife and humankind. I hope this very first International Youth Photography Festival & Exhibition will give children a global platform to show us the world through their eyes, and inspire everyone to take action."

The full list of 2012 winners are:

· First prize: SOS! By Anastasya Vorobko, 8 years old from Russia
· Second prize: Emergency Exit by Juan Carlos Canales, 14 years old from Spain
· Third prize (joint): Fields of Green by Bianca Stan, 14 years old from Romania and Morning at Situ Gunung by Michael Theodric, 10 years old from Indonesia
· Special prize: In The Wind by Sophie Vela, 14 years old from France
· Your Choice Public Vote prize: The Last Breath by Kseniya Saberzhanova, 17 years old from Russia

Upon finding out that she had won the contest, Anastasya said: "I'm so excited about winning the Children's Eyes On Earth contest – it's really inspired me to keep taking photographs to tell stories. I wanted to show everyone how bad the air is in our city. I see the bird in this picture as carrying a message around the world, with the hope that adults everywhere will start to care about the air that we breathe. If we don't look after our planet, then who will?"

The best 100 images and the six winning images were selected by an international jury, led by acclaimed photographer REZA and including Ayperi Ecer, Reuters Vice President of Picture Development; Alain Genestar, founder of Polka magazine; Chris Rainier, National Geographic photographer; Françoise Lemarchand, founder of Canopée, Nature & Découvertes magazine; Frédéric Chevance, Managing Director of Fox International, France; Sylvie Brieu, Senior Editor of National Geographic, France; Marco Pinna, journalist; Franck Meo, founder of PhotoCloser.com; Shahidul Alam, photographer and Santiago Lyon, Vice President of Associated Press. The judges selected the first, second and third-place winners and the special prize winner, whilst the public vote results determined the winner of the ‘Your Choice’ Public Vote Prize.

Although the entrants were all aged 17 and under, their understanding of the dangers facing our environment is apparent. Second-prize winner Juan Carlos Canales (Spain) commented that he worried about such issues as oil spills threatening our coastlines and pollution being emitted by factories, while third prize winners Bianca Stan (Romania) and Michael Theodric (Indonesia) stated we should cherish our environment as it is our future. Special prize winner Sophie Vela said that the environment is one of the most important things on Earth and public vote winner Kseniya Saberzhanova (Russia) hopes the images in the contest would encourage people to think more carefully about how they treat the environment.

In its inaugural year, The Children’s Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest received over 4,000 image submissions of an incredibly high standard, as demonstrated by the 100 best images which will be on display at the Festival & Exhibition. The six Contest winners will be awarded trophies at the Festival & Exhibition Awards Ceremony and will participate in photography workshops with Reza. They will also receive prizes of camera equipment.
Festival & Exhibition website: www.childrenseyesonearth.org

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