Poverty ‧ Open

Photo Contest HK Gender and Poverty – FINALISTS to win rare audience with Former Magnum Photographer

The Gini coefficient stood at a record high of 0.533 in 2011. Statistics from the HK government from 2001-2010 show at least a 20% disparity in earnings between the two genders, especially for those among the working-poor (with a monthly income below $6000).

Photo Contest HK intends to stimulate discussion and encourage social responsibility on important issues in Hong Kong through PHOTOGRAPHY. The first phase of Photo Contest HK which was launched in April 2012, attracted over 1600 photo submissions with the theme of 'Poverty in the Midst of Plenty'.

The theme for the second phase will be Gender and Poverty. The Contest will be launched on September 3 and closes on October 2, 2012. To enter the contest, participants can visit: http://photocontest.hk and register with one’s Facebook account. Each participant can upload a maximum of 10 photos. The organizers of the Contest along with Former Magnum photographer Simon Wheatley would pick out the finalists and members of the public would be invited to vote for the winners on the Photo Contest HK website.

The winner, first runner-up and second runner-up would receive HK$20,000, HK$10,000 and HK$5,000 respectively. British photographer Simon Wheatley, who captured the contrast between the grim scenes and the vibrant city in his work ‘DON’T CALL ME URBAN! The Time of Grime’, will present finalists with a free photography workshop, sharing his invaluable experience in engaging the community with photography.

Photo Contest HK, supported by the WYNG Foundation, intends to set up a photo library, where the images are granted Creative Commons licenses, so photographs can be used for lectures and promotion of non- commercial nature with appropriate attribution, as well as being a photographic history of Hong Kong.