September 1, 2005 | Read Time: 2 minutes
While photographs that make it into the international sections of newspapers often strive to shock, depicting
the devastation wrought by the tsunamis, children going hungry in Niger, or one of the many other catastrophes around the globe, photography can also change people’s perspectives by showing the good that is done in many developing countries.
That is one of the ideas behind a photo contest held annually by InterAction, the Washington charity that represents international-development and humanitarian organizations.
InterAction hopes that showing how charities save lives and help poor countries become self-sufficient will build support among policy makers and the public for increasing federal aid overseas.
“The photography contest was created to help showcase our members’ work in the field,” says Mohammad Akhter, the organization’s president. “It is an artistic way to highlight the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance and development programs around the world.”
More than 275 photographs were submitted to this year’s competition, the third of its kind.
Winners were chosen in categories that mirror the types of work InterAction members are doing: education, health care, agriculture, hunger, women and girls, disaster response and refugees, and peace and democracy. The winning photographs were exhibited at the InterAction Forum, a three-day event held in June that attracted people who work for relief and development organizations as well as government officials and journalists.
The images are also featured throughout the year in InterAction publications and used by its members for marketing and promotion.
This year’s grand-prize image, by the Canadian photojournalist Marko Kokic, shows a Zambian Red Cross volunteer accompanying children to be vaccinated against measles. In 2003, the Red Cross helped to immunize more than five million Zambian children.
Karl Grobl, a California photojournalist who won InterAction’s 2003 contest and took second place in the education category this year with his image of a Ghanaian boy writing on a blackboard, says photography has the power to advance charitable causes.
“Photography is a really great way to inform people, and in today’s day and age, maybe it can spark action,” he says. “Maybe it’s the hook that grabs someone’s attention long enough to say, ‘Education Development Center or Catholic Relief Services is doing good work, perhaps I should think about being involved.’”
All the winners are available online at http://www.interaction.org/media/photo2005/.
