Mobile phone repair shop, Kolkata. Copyright Rob Godden

The Guardian newspaper (UK) continues its Flickr photo projects in 2012 with this interesting challenge. Only open to those residing in developing countries, they are asking people to document one theme over the coming year. Whether education, farming, business or politics – they want people to shoot a series of images regularly over the year to tell an in-depth and evolving story.

Details can be found here. You can check out the Guardian Flickr group here to see what has already been posted. Questions can be submitted either via Flickr or to development@guardian.co.uk.

For full submission details click here.

The contest is open for submissions. Ideally, videos will run under five minutes and should reflect ‘the nature, realities, and/or consequences of the apartheid policy across historic Palestine, whether in the West Bank, Gaza or the ’48‘.

Following June 20, 2010, which is the final date for submissions, films will be judged by an expert panel and popular juries.

Complete information on prizes, judging, film festival screenings and contest requirements can be found on the official video contest website

Now in its fourth year, the DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards is looking for the best nonprofit videos of 2009. Organizations can enter the contest by going to www.youtube.com/nonprofitvideoawards. Organizations not currently taking part in the YouTube Nonprofit Program are encouraged to apply for free at www.youtube.com/nonprofits.

Winning videos in each category will be announced and featured on the YouTube homepage and recognized at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta on Saturday, April 10, 2010. They will also receive a $2,500 donation from the Case Foundation, and have their video screened at a special event in Washington DC, hosted by Nomadsland.com, a video publishing platform for nonprofits.

Beginning today, video submissions will be accepted until March 12, 2010 when a panel of expert judges will select four finalists in each category for Best Small Organization Video, Best Medium Organization Video, Best Large Organization Video, and Best Innovation in Video. Public voting will open on March 29 and end on April 7. Judges include Guy Kawasaki, Gary Vaynerchuk, Beth Kanter and other experts in nonprofit marketing, video and social media.

To submit a video to the contest, visit www.youtube.com/nonprofitvideoawards.

To register for the Nonprofit Technology Conference, visit www.nten.org/ntc.

I love comics, graphic novels and animation so am well happy that Ctrl.Alt.Shift have recognised their potential in social activism. I posted recently that they were running a competition in collaboration with Lightspeed Champion, well now you can check out their exhibition at the Lazarides Gallery on Greek Street in Soho, London. I am just a little bit sad I will not be able to catch it, but take comfort in that I get to look at the Himalayas everyday!

It runs from 6-30 November and includes both historical political comic art (including the dubious ‘Heroes Against Hunger‘ with Superman and Batman visiting Ethiopia during the 1986 famine!!) and specially commissioned work. In addition, they are launching their ‘Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption‘ comic book, and anthology examining state corruption and its impact on peoples’ lives.

Comic-book of corruption, covering everything from state-sponsored brutality in Colombia to the ravaging of Congo's natural resources.

For more check out this feature in The Guardian (UK).

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is running two competitions to raise awareness of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

The competitions, both photographic and video, are themed around ‘Changing Lives’. For contest rules click here. Submission deadline for both comps is 31 October 2009.

OK, it may look like Ctrl+Alt+Shift are paying me today but it is just that I haven’t checked them out for so long, and they are such a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, this is a bit late but worth a mention as you don’t see many comics for social activism. They are running a comic competition on the issue of corruption. The deadline for entrants has already gone, and an initial round of judging taken place. Those shortlisted have received a comic script by acclaimed musician and writer Dev Hynes aka Lightspeed Champion and been asked to create a visual adaption of the story. The winner will create a comic style story in collaboration with Hynes to be published as part of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) ‘Comica‘ annual festival in London in November. Sounds worth checking out.

Some admirable short films make up the winners of the Ctrl+Alt+Shift film competition. Of particular note are ‘War School‘ and ‘No Way Through‘ (below) that use the technique of placing the violation in the audience’s world (if you live in the UK that is). I think this can be used just as powerfully in ‘constructed‘ still images, and wonder why it is not used more? I like it as it tries to tackle the gap between the audience’s world and that of the so-called ‘distant other‘ we can so readily ignore, even though we may extend our pity (geez, got to stop reading that academic stuff!).

Anyway, for me the power of visual media is its ability to try to bridge that gap, to get us to see others within our circle of concern, produce empathy, and so to extend our assistance.

This innate human capacity was discussed in some depth by Professor Conor Gearty,  ex-Director the the LSE Centre for the Study of Human Rights,  in  a lecture in May 2009, where he links Darwinism and human rights. Interesting stuff (plus he is very funny). In short Gearty focusses on reciprocal altruism, and how this works to extend our compassion to those at a distance as well as our immediate ‘clan‘. This can produce both great acts of humanity and atrocities, depending on whether we extend or close the circle of who we help. I particularly love his focus on what human rights mean as feelings and acts rather than laws and treaties, again pointing to the vital role visual media can play in the human rights movement with its power to touch us deeply.

Congratulations to Alexandra Monro & Sheila Menon for ‘No Way Through‘, and Ben Newman for ‘War School‘.

As yet another aside, you may wish to compare the above videos with this ad made by Amnesty International UK. This reverses the technique and puts the audience in the world of the ‘distant other‘.  The implication being that the acts of individuals who are distant can have an impact on others’ lives. Whether this is disingenuous, even as a metaphor, is up for debate. A more interesting point is how the individuals are depicted as an outside intervening force to predominantly helpless people who seem rather irrelevant to the whole process, or at least don’t get much focus.  Couldn’t each ‘saviour’ have been depicted with the person they ‘rescued’ rather than alone? Or could we have seen acts where individuals from (in this case the UK) joined others in protest or action, rather than them being passive?

Posted in Film Tagged: competition, human rights, NGO, representation, research ]]> http://therightsexposureproject.com/2009/10/08/ctrlaltshift-film-comp-winners-with-a-bit-of-darwin-and-human-rights-thrown-in/feed/ 2 buddhasbreakfast Ctrl+Alt+Shift_logo aiuk_logo http://therightsexposureproject.com/2009/09/15/good-50x70-2/ http://therightsexposureproject.com/2009/09/15/good-50x70-2/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:51:13 +0000 buddhasbreakfast http://therightsexposureproject.com/2009/09/15/good-50x70-2/ ]]> Launched in 2007, Good 50×70 is an independent, non-profit initiative aiming to ‘promote the value of social communication in the creative community, provide charities with a (free) database of communication tools, and inspire the public via graphic design.’

Good 50×70′s work revolves around an annual contest to design posters confronting seven of the critical issues affecting today’s world. Seven charities each provide a brief on a global issue. Anyone who wishes can enter a poster on any topic that inspires them. The best 30 responses to each brief are collected in a catalogue and exhibited around the world. All the posters entered are supplied to the charities for them to use as potential communication tools.

CGAP, who produce research and policy on financial access for the world’s poor, has launched a photo contest focussing on how micro finance has touched people’s lives. Click here for details. Deadline 14 September.