Letters to Tomorrow 2007 Asia-Pacific Photo Message Contest

TVE Asia Pacific has become a partner in Letters to Tomorrow 2007 Asia-Pacific Photo Message Contest, which currently accepts entries from 44 countries in the region.

The contest, organised by the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) in Tokyo, Japan, is part of the regional organisation's contribution to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD, 2005 - 2014).

The theme for this year's contest is 'Celebration of Our Living Culture'.

Entries will be accepted until 15 February 2008. They may be sent by post, or entered online at the contest website.

"Look around and find something you wish to pass along to the future - in your family, community or country.  As each entry, we call for a photograph of people who transmit living culture, together with a text in your own words," says ACCU in the contest guidelines.

It adds: "Please try to depict people who are engaged in traditional music, theatre and dance, folklore and legend, social practices, rituals and festive events, traditional handicrafts such as wood carving, dyeing and weaving, and cultural spaces such as those for prayers, rituals and gatherings."

Any national of the 44 eligible countries may submit up to two entries (see box for list of countries). Each entry must consist of a photograph – taken in their own country on or after 1 January 2003 - and a short text in line with the theme. 

The contest will award three Grand Prizes worth US$ 1,000 each along with a certificate and plaque. A dozen Prizes of Excellence will each carry US$ 200 accompanied by a certificate. A further 65 runners-up will receive certificates.

ACCU annually organised the ACCU Photo Contest in Asia and the Pacific from 1976 to 2002. It received a total of 141,544 entries in those 26 years, and the best of which were included in international travelling photo exhibitions with approximately 200 hosting events.

Drawing upon these experiences, ACCU will resume holding the Asia-Pacific ESD Photo Message Contest Letters to Tomorrow 2007 - Celebration of Our Living Culture. The contest is to be held every other year on ESD themes, followed by a series of international traveling exhibitions.

"This photo message contest is unique in that it encourages wide participation including those without cameras or even literacy skills," says Ms Shibao Tomoko, Director of ACCU’s Education Division. "Furthermore, the contest accepts messages expressed in 20 languages besides English, in our attempt to link ESD to Education For All and United Nations Literacy Decade."

ACCU hopes to involve several leading organisations in this photo contest, including United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations University (UNU), United Nations University's Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) and Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU).

Besides TVE Asia Pacific, other regional centres of excellence in ESD are also partners in this venture, viz. Asia South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE), Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) and the University of the South Pacific (USP).

Images courtesy ACCU Photo Message Contest website
Photographs are prize-winning works of the past ACCU Asia-Pacific Photo Contest