Call To Action

Do you live in an informal settlement in Africa? Pick up your phone camera and become part of the movement to document as we build our homes, our communities, our cities and our future. Nothing for us without us! The people are the solution!

Background

Across Africa people united by collective action are building their homes and cities with their own hands through a process called social production of habitat. We know the challenges we face and have the ideas to address them. There are many examples of how government, civil society organizations, and mobilized people are working together for our development. We want to share these stories with the world and learn from each other!

Challenge

Make Media, Make Change! In recognition of the power of media to unite people and transform lives, our network of allies will give an award to the best photo series and captions every month. The finalists will receive training and resources to develop the photo series into a documentary for social change.

Guidelines

We suggest you form teams of three or more comprising of:

• Photographer
• Writer
• Social Change Influencer

Best Photography Prize

The Best Photography Prize will be awarded by a professional jury. They will be looking for a picture that tells a story and creative approaches to photography.

Techniques you are encouraged to use are:

• Panorama
• In Action
• Portrait

Best Caption Prize

Each photo should have a caption of no more than 280 characters (the length of a Tweet). In addition, you are invited to submit a short work of journalism of no more than 600 words to support your photo series.

Your writing can be in quotation form of your photo subjects, it could be your opinion, a poem, or other piece of creative writing. The jury will be looking for originality of content, fresh ideas, and your interpretation of social production of habitat.

Best Social Impact Prize

The prize goes to the post with the most likes, shares, and comments. In addition, the jury will evaluate the posts to find those that have the deepest social impact.

We will be looking for photos that work with captions and work with social media to call people to action. In other words, get your audience to do something after they have clicked the like button, for example, start their own savings group, sign a petition or take part in community building activities.

Special Mention

The jury reserves the right to award a special mention to photo series submitted. Although these entries do not receive the monthly prize they are eligible to be considered for the grand prize.