–    Antonio Banderas judge; winning images to be exhibited during world leaders’
Millennium Development Goals Summit in September
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with Olympus Corporation and the Agence France-Presse (AFP) Foundation, launched the second annual Picture This photo contest on Friday last in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The contest, titled Picture This: We Can End Poverty, seeks to show the inspirational work that is being done in many countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight goals agreed on by world leaders to halve extreme poverty by 2015.
“Through the photo contest this year we want to show that the MDGs can be reached, even in the poorest and most disadvantaged countries,” said Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator, at the launch of the contest.
“We hope that the contest will bring much needed attention to the quickly approaching deadline for achieving the MDGs, and motivate people and governments in developed and developing countries to redouble their efforts in the fight against extreme poverty.”
This year’s competition is particularly important, as it coincides with the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals to be held in September in New York. The Summit will bring together world leaders to boost progress against poverty and commit to a concrete action agenda to achieve the MDGs by 2015.
UNDP Goodwill Ambassador and internationally-acclaimed actor Antonio Banderas is one of five judges who will choose the winning photos. “We are at a defining moment in the fight against poverty.  The challenges of achieving the MDGs cannot be overcome by a single person, organization or government.  All sectors of society need to be mobilized in a call to action for the big push to 2015. This photo contest is the type of initiative that will bring all these different groups together in order to bring attention to the urgency of achieving the MDGs.”
An exhibit featuring the winning photos will be held during the Summit to put a human face on the MDGs.
The contest is open to amateur and professional photographers worldwide. Contestants may submit up to three different photographs, focusing on progress towards one of the eight MDGs, preferably in a developing country.

The eight goals are:
•         Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
•         Achieve universal primary education
•         Promote gender equality and empower women
•         Reduce child mortality
•         Improve maternal health
•         Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
•         Ensure environmental sustainability
•         Develop a global partnership for development

The deadline for entries is by midnight (EST) on 16 July, 2010.
The other four judges who will choose the winning photos are professional photojournalists: Alexandra Avakian and John Isaac, both award winning photographers, as well as Mark Garten, Head of UN Photo and Paola Messana, AFP Bureau Chief in New York.
In addition to three winners in each of the professional and amateur categories, there will be one “People’s Choice” award. The winner of this category will be selected by the public, who can vote on the photo entries displayed on the Picture This website.
The top rated three photos in each of the professional and amateur categories, as well as the “People’s Choice” winning image will be displayed on the sponsors’ websites and shown in at least two exhibitions in Japan and the United States.
The first prize winners in the professional and amateur categories and the “People’s Choice” winner will be flown to an awards ceremony and launch of an exhibition in September in New York.
“The AFP Foundation is once again very pleased to support this photo contest,” said Robert Holloway, Director of the AFP Foundation. “We believe it will give an opportunity to amateur and professional photographers everywhere to show the world how ordinary people around the world are dealing with achieving their most pressing development challenges.”
President of Olympus, Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, said from Tokyo, “We hope that through this initiative, people around the world will be inspired by images showing that the simplest of actions, no matter who you are or where you live, can make a real difference in the effort to halt extreme poverty. The time has come for the world to realize that we all have a role to play to achieve the Goals, and that regardless of where we live or what we do, we all have the potential to contribute to human development in our countries, communities and villages.”

The 2009 Africa-centred Picture This: Caring for the Earth competition resulted in an international traveling exhibit (Geneva, Johannesburg, New York, Osaka, St Louis in Senegal, and Tokyo), and extensive media coverage for the contest itself, its winners and participants, as well as the issue of climate change and environmental degradation in Africa.

THE JUDGES

•Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas is an acclaimed actor, writer, singer and producer from Málaga, Spain. Antonio started his career in Spanish movies, including in several of Pedro Almodóvar’s films, and moved to Hollywood in the 1990s. He has been supporting non-profit organizations worldwide, including UNICEF, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the United States and numerous Spanish non-governmental organizations. Antonio was appointed UNDP Goodwill Ambassador in March 2010 for the fight against poverty and to promote the Millennium Development Goals globally. Antonio’s films include Assassins, Evita, Interview with the Vampire, Philadelphia, The Mask of Zorro and El Mariachi. He will soon appear in a new Woody Allen film and is concurrently writing, directing and producing a film about Boabdil (Abu Abdullah Muhammad XII), the last Muslim ruler of Granada, Spain. In October 2008, Antonio received the “Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes”, a prize given by the King of Spain to prominent Spanish artists.

• Alexandra Avakian
Alexandra Avakian has been a photojournalist since 1984, covering many of the most important issues of her time, with subjects ranging from Haiti to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the former Soviet Union, from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to war and famine in Africa. As part of her work with the National Geographic Society for the past 15 years, she has produced photo essays on Gaza, Romania, Armenia, Latvia, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and American Muslims, and a cover story on Iran. She has received honours from Pictures of the Year International, the New York Foundation for the Arts and American Photographer. Her photographs have been published in TIME, LIFE, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, and many more throughout the United States and Europe. Her photographic and written memoir, Windows of the Soul: My Journeys in the Muslim World, was published by Focal Point/National Geographic in fall 2008.

• Mark Garten
Mark Garten, currently Chief of Photography at the United Nations, has been creating images professionally for the past 24 years. After receiving a Bachelor in Fine Arts at the University of Buf
falo, New York, Mark opened a still life studio creating images for advertising. His journey has now landed him at the United Nations, where he leads a team of photographers. Traveling much of the globe with former and current UN Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, respectively, Mark has had the opportunity to observe first-hand UN programmes and their impact on men, women and children. From documenting the struggles of Internally Displaced People in Colombia’s jungles to conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, Mark tries to show the truths of humankind and the ways we can help each other through the images he creates. His images have been seen in galleries as well as media outlets, books and magazines around the world.

•John Isaac
John Isaac became a photojournalist for the United Nations in 1978 and worked as chief camera person conducting photo shoots for UN projects in more than 100 countries. Originally from India he now resides in New York. His many awards include the Photokina International Photo Contest First Prize; the GRAPHIS Magazine Best Outdoor Photograph; and the 1993 PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association Professional Photographer of the Year. In 2000 he won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Photographic Council. Isaac’s book on Kashmir, The Vale of Kashmir, was published in 2008 by W.W. Norton. He made 12 trips to Kashmir in the last five years to complete this book.

• Paola Messana
Paola Messana, a former AFP Photo Director in Paris, has been a journalist since 1979. After working as a correspondent in Rome for Agence France-Presse from 1983 to 1988, she was assigned to Moscow from 1990 to 2005, where she created the AFP network in the 15 former soviet republics and covered the fall of the Soviet Union. Awarded the prestigious Albert Londres Award with her team in 1995 for the coverage of the first Chechnya war, she wrote two books on Russia, Kommunalka and Olga drives a Jaguar. Paola has been the AFP New York bureau chief since 2007.