Zoom-in on Poverty Photo Contest

China's Xinhua News Agency and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced Friday in Beijing the launch of an international photo contest focusing on global fight against poverty.

Titled "Zoom in on Poverty International Photo Contest," the event is co-organized by the two agencies with an aim to arouse attention and win support from people and governments across the world for poverty eradication, organizers said at a press conference.

Photographers around the world, both amateur and professional, have been invited to submit works with anti-poverty themes from Friday until Sept. 1, according to organizers.

The contest will conclude on Oct. 17, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. An award ceremony will be held in Beijing on that day.

The best entries will be presented to the public via the Xinhua newswire network and its affiliated magazines, newspapers and TV network, as well as through online platforms and showrooms in UN agencies around the world.

According to a statement from Li Congjun, president of Xinhua News Agency, the contest aims to focus the world's attention on poverty through photos that portray the causes, solutions and achievements made in the global anti-poverty campaigns over the past ten years, and as a responsible media group, Xinhua is shouldering its own responsibility in the international action to eradicate extreme poverty.

Li, who is also honorary chairman of the contest's organizing committee,

said in the statement that the contest will unite Xinhua, the UNDP and other media institutions around the world to make a contribution in promoting the common progress of mankind.

Addressing the press conference, Wang Yao, chairwoman of the contest's Board of Judges and deputy editor-in-chief of Xinhua, said the event is dedicated to taking a deep and broad look at the global challenge of poverty through photography.

"The language of photography goes beyond the barriers among different races, nationalities, countries and cultures and boasts distinctive advantages in reflecting global issues," Wang said.

Silvia Morimoto, deputy country director of UNDP China, said she hopes that in showcasing development experiences from around the world, "the competition will inspire participants to experience first-hand, the extraordinary impact that poverty reduction can have on people's lives."

She said Xinhua's global influence will attract the world's attention to poverty and offer a great contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals through the contest.

According to organizers, Li proposed the contest at the start of this year and received an active response from the UNDP shortly thereafter.

This is the third global humanitarian event that Xinhua, an international media group headquartered in Beijing, has sponsored through cooperation with UN institutions over the past three years.

Xinhua co-organized a special report along with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) last year to mark the World Food Day on Oct. 16.

On Nov. 20, 2009, Xinhua and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) jointly held a "Global News Day for Children," a 24-hour news reporting campaign that marked the Universal Children's Day.

At the September 2000 Millennium Summit, leaders from all 191 UN members signed an agreement to commit themselves to combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. They agreed to cut poverty in half before 2015 from the 1990 level.

Known as the Millennium Declaration, the agreement included eight specific goals, such as eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary school education, reducing child mortality and ensuring environmental sustainability.

To submit your photos, click at the following link:

http://www.xinhuanet.com/foto/gzpk/english/uploadPerson_en.html

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