Hackney charity searches for best young photographers

Photo: Nancy Cofie

The winning photo at the Amnesty 2013 photography competition. Photo: Nancy Cofie

PhotoVoice, a Hackney based charity has joined forces with Amnesty International to find Britain’s best young human rights photojournalists.

The competition is part of Amnesty’s 2014 Youth Awards for 9-21 year olds and invites young people to take a photograph that tells a human rights story.

PhotoVoice will join the competition for the second year running.

Matt Daw, Projects Manager at PhotoVoice, said: “PhotoVoice is proud to be partnering with Amnesty once again.

“The Youth Awards are invaluable as they encourage young people to explore the reality of human rights, and in doing so they gain an understanding of how they can contribute in a real way to the protection of those whose rights are being abused.

“Human rights can seem like an intangible concept, yet a photograph that shows the reality of someone’s basic rights being denied is powerfully affecting.”

17 year-old Nancy Cofie, winner of last year’s photography competition was at the launch. She said: “This competition has really helped me and my confidence in photography.  If you are aspiring to be a photographer you should definitely take the chance.”

Brandon Block, Amnesty UK’s Human Rights Education Manager, said: “Photographers play a vital role in shining a spotlight on the appalling human rights abuses that happen every day across the globe – issues that Amnesty frequently campaigns on.”

Amnesty Youth Awards also has categories for the best human rights reporter, fundraiser, campaigner and songwriter. Last year over 3,000 young people entered the variety of categories in the competition.

Participants are able to enter the competition online from October 11 here. The deadline for entries is February 17, 2014.

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