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By Teresia Mutuku, Communication
Officer and Web Manager, WACC
Winners of this year’s WACC Photo Competition have been announced. The
winning photo was submitted by Sudiptorana, a photojournalist from Calcutta,
India. The photo
features rural women in West Bengal, India, taking part in a traditional boat
race, challenging male members of the village. The race was
traditionally dominated by men.
The theme of this year’s competition was “Portraying
Gender”. Photographers were invited to submit photos that
portrayed women or men in ways that offer new perceptions about their roles
and responsibilities.
More than 950 photographers from all over the world participated in the
competition, and there were more than 1700 photographs entered. Many of these
were of a high standard, making the selection of the winner particularly
difficult. The large number of entries indicates that this year’s theme was
of considerable interest.
The winning photographer was awarded $500. Five photos won commendations and
were awarded $200 each. The commendations were submitted from Yogyakarta - Indonesia,
Chocó - Colombia, Jessore - Bangladesh
and two from different locations in India.
After much deliberation, the winners were announced by the Jury on Friday May
8. The final selection was made by a panel comprised of WACC Officers and
staff. It was the first time the Officers, in Toronto
for their annual meeting, had participated in the judging of the competition.
This was WACC's sixth photo competition, which is run on Flickr. Each year, this popular event brings
together hundreds of photographers from around the world to portray a
particular subject related to communication. Last year’s theme was ‘Women and Communication.’
WACC congratulates all the photographers and thanks them for their
submissions.
Details of the winning photo and the five commendations are as follows:
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Winning
photo:
“Women’s power”
by Sudiptorana:
rural women take part in a traditional boat race challenging male
members of the village in West Bengal, India. Sudiptorana is a
photojournalist from Calcutta, India.
He works for a leading daily newspaper in India.
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*****
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Commendations:
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“Leading the way!” by jyotikajain:
Maharashtrian Women dressed in traditional navari sarees lead the Gudi
Padva Celebration Rally by riding motor bikes. Gudi Padva is celebrated on
New Year’s Day in the state of Maharashtra,
India. The women
believe that it’s no more a man’s world and are equally capable of leading
the way. Riding these motor bikes is their way of challenging a regressive
social set up, says Jjyotikajain.
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*****
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"Female
mechanic",
Shanti Devi, by
Centre for Human Progress (CHP) : Sanjay Gandhi Transport
Nagar (SGTN), spread over an area of 77-plus acres, is the largest trucking
halt point in Asia. Over 70,000 trucks are parked at
SGTN at any given point in time and an average of 20,000 trucks drive into
and out of SGTN every day. Truck drivers coming to SGTN are from all over India
but a large majority of them come from Delhi, Gujarat,
Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. Not
surprisingly, SGTN is largely a male dominated environment. One finds
transshipment, transport and workshop centers, hundreds of booking agents,
body-building and repair workshops, and thousands of mechanics, welders,
labor contractors, insurance agents, paint and spare part shops as well as
dhabas, (road side eateries), tea stalls and phone booths throughout SGTN,
which are largely run by men. It is a rare sight to see a female mechanic
anywhere, leave alone in a male dominated trucking halt point! Shanti Devi
has been running her own mechanic workshop at SGTN for the last 15 years!
The Center for Human
Progress is a New Delhi-based social entrepreneurship.
Since its inception, CHP has spearheaded various initiatives, including
those to promote social change and empowerment by engaging young people and
vulnerable and marginalized communities to develop the knowledge and skills
they need to support social mobilization.
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*****
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“Woman
at work”
by Sumaryanto Bronto:
Purwatiyem (35) a mother of two, mining sand from streams of Gondol river,
cankringan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
For 15 years she has worked as a sand miner. For every fully loaded truck,
she is rewarded with 80.00 to 140.000 rupiahs and ever since the eruption
of mount Merapi
- a year ago- she now earns even more returns.
Sumaryanto Bronto
is a freelance photographer based in Yogyakarta and Jakarta,
Indonesia. He is also
a student at the Gadjah Mada
University majoring in
archeology. He started his career in photography as a contributing
photographer for Associated Press. His photographs have been published in
International and national publications including Stern, ABC news, Folha,
Ewoss news, USA Today, Washington Post among others. He has participated in
several International and national photo exhibitions.
Currently, he is a participant in a World Press Photo course at panna
institute of photography. Sumaryanto has also published his own photography
book titled “Fifty Seven Second”, a collaboration with Indonesian
photojournalists. The book is a documentary on the earthquake that hit
Yoyakarta in 2006, killing more than 6,000 people.
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*****
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"Woman
gold miner"
in Chocó, Colombia,
by Jan Sochor:
The gold pan filled with gold bearing mud and rocks weighs about
ten-fifteen kilograms. Gold miners carry it to the water pool to get
washed. It can be washed in ten minutes approximately. [Tadó, Chocó,
Colombia] © http://www.jansochor.com/
Jan
Sochor
is a freelance photographer and media designer. He was born in the Czech
Republic but he is changing his base between
South America and Europe frequently, he lived and worked in Chile,
Colombia, Costa
Rica, Spain
and the Czech Republic
in the last five years. America
has become a major theme for him since then. He focuses on documentary
projects trying to show and tell about the (Latin) American continent, its
everyday life, social, political and cultural issues. His photographs and
stories have appeared in numerous Czech and international magazines,
newspapers and publications, including Sunday Times, Burn magazine, Foto8,
PDN online, Reflex magazine, National Geographic, Instinkt, Hospodarske
noviny. Jan Sochor is represented by Aurora
Photos and ZUMA Press.
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*****
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"Father
and child"
by Heather Plett.
The photo was taken in the village of Ramnatte
Pur in the district of Jessore in Bangladesh.
Heather is the Director of Resources and Public Engagement for Canadian
Foodgrains Bank, a non-profit organization. She took the photo while
visiting a school feeding project funded by the organization. “I love
to take pictures, but I'm usually fairly surprised when they turn out well.
I have a great job that lets me travel to interesting places like Africa, India,
Bangladesh,
and a bunch of places closer to home. When I go to those places, I find
myself most captivated by people's faces” says Heather.
In March 2009, Heather was named Manitoba Communicator of the Year by
the Manitoba chapter of the
Canadian Public Relations Society. Before joining the Foodgrains Bank five
years ago, she spent thirteen years in the federal government of Canada,
working in a variety of departments. In addition to her career, she works
as a freelance writer and consultant.
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