Photo Championship 2012

Határidő: 2012. szeptember 1.

“Sustainable tourism has to comply with social, cultural, ecological, and economic compatibility criteria. Sustainable tourism is a long-term undertaking of concern to current and future generations; it is equitable in ethical and social terms and adjusted to cultural settings; it is ecologically sustainable, it makes sense and it is fruitful in economic terms.” This is how, in 1999, the German Forum Umwelt & Entwicklung summed up the complex challenges involved in ensuring a viable development of tourism.

What it implies is that a socially, culturally, ecologically, and economically sustainable tourism with upbeat consequences for local populations is conditional on specific substructures and prerequisites: sound stretches of nature and landscape, respect vis-à-vis local culture and skilful networking with other regionally specific branches of economic activity. It also implies that travellers and tour operators assume responsibility for tangible, often unheeded effects of global tourism. Because it largely depends on the type of visiting and the type of “being visited”, whether more tourism will actually result in more affluence and cultural cohesion in a given country or region.

Which are the new areas of attention pinpointed by individuals, initiative groups or organisations with a view to promoting tourism in harmony with established structures? Where do travellers “really” meet and connect? What is the impact of a new hotel or of a group of 20 tourists on an untouched region? What is the “collateral damage” caused by tourism? Garbage, built-up landscapes, “folklore” in lieu of culture… Where are travellers imposing their own prejudices and “mental images” without ‘exposing’ them to ‘hands-on’ experience? Where are the beginnings of an in-depth approach to the countries and cultures visited? All these and many more are the issues of interest in the context of the NFI Photo Championship 2012.

Competition Categories

Entries for the NFI-Photo Championship 2012 are invited in the following competition categories:

General: digitals only
(A1) Sustainable tourism (colour)
(A2) Sustainable tourism (black/white)

Themes: digitals only
(T1) Sustainable tourism vs. conventional tourism (contrastive pairs: 2x2)
(T2) Sustainable tourism in developing countries

The competitors who submit the most convincing digital photos (which are invited in four competition categories) will win prizes such as stays in sustainable tourism regions.

In cooperation with the network ‘European Destinations of Excellence’ (EDEN), certain excellent tourism regions which have been awarded pioneers in sustainable tourism by EDEN offer multi-day stays: Seelentium, a region for total relaxation in the Oberes Innviertel (Upper Inn Quarter) as well as the Grosse Walsertal Biosphere Park in Austria; the Westfjords Region in Iceland, the region Plunge together with the national park Samogitia in Lithuania and the Northern Velebit National Park in Croatia. Additional prizes are weekend-trips to “Europe’s Wild Heart”, the Bavarian Forest National Park in Germany, and exciting subscriptions of the Austrian magazine LEBENSART – Das Magazin für Nachhaltige Lebenskultur. Cyberlab, a Viennese high-tech photo laboratory, supports the international Photo Championship.

Rules for entry
The competition is open to all photographers the world over. Each photographer is entitled to enter 4 works per competition category. Entry of works implies authors’ acceptance of the rules for entry. Entries not complying with the terms set out in the invitation will be excluded.

The pictures can be sent by post on CD or by e-mail ( photo@nf-int.org). The maximum permissible size per e-mail is 10 MB.

Deadline for entries: 1 September 2012

Please consider all details in the invitation and in the entry form, which is available for download.

Invitation
Entry form