Photography Showcase

The annual #AfricanCITYFOODmonth photo competition, in alignment with AfriFOODlinks, offers a platform for photographers across the continent to share detailed narratives about their city’s food systems. #AfricanCITYFOODMonth, hosted every July, is a campaign that brings together stakeholders from different sectors to share ideas and experiences of urban food systems in African cities. It recognises that food can be a powerful lever for solving many problems in cities, as it is integral to how we plan and run our cities as well as our daily lives.

2024 Photo Competition: Unsung heroes

In 2024, #AfricanCITYFOODMonth invited photographers across the continent to submit photographs and an accompanying short story of a hidden or unnoticed food systems hero or champion in their cities. This could be a grandparent keeping a traditional food culture alive, a researcher uncovering food system dynamics, a food vendor at the market, a small business selling vegetables in a neighbourhood, a city official championing food-related challenges, an entrepreneur in an area working with food waste and many more — each with a personality, story or outlook that will inspire!

We received over 180 entries and would like to thank all who took part in this photography competition. Explore the winners and shortlisted entries below!

We invite you to submit photographs and a short story of an unsung hero or champion in your city’s food system.

Congratulations to the 3 winners!

Entry requirements:

Each entry must include:

3 photographs that clearly show your food systems hero or champion at work in their everyday context:

-1 full portrait of the person

-1 image of them in their broader food environment (e.g. a vendor with their stand, waiter in their restaurant, urban gardener in their farm, etc.)

-1 image of their interactions with the food system (e.g. processing food, handling produce, etc.)

A brief title

A short description of the person’s work and what makes them a food systems hero (100-word limit)

The name of your food systems hero

An insightful quotation from your food systems hero that embodies their work or outlook (40-word limit)

Submission:

Entries open on 15 July 2024 and close on 26 August 2024, 17:00 SAST. No late submissions will be considered.

You may submit up to three entries, but each must showcase a different food systems champion.

Submit photographs as JPEG/PNG files, each of maximum 10 MB size, with the following naming format: Name + Surname + Photograph Number (e.g. Jane Doe 1).

Eligibility:

We encourage anyone over the age of 18 to submit images.

Image content must be relevant to the #AfricanCITYFOODMonth 2024 theme.

Images can be taken with any kind of camera. Minor editing (slight changes to cropping, sharpening, contrast, etc.) is allowed, but the images should look natural.

Only share portraits with permission. Most importantly, images must not be degrading to the dignity of the subject.

No images that contain portraits of children will be considered. Children in the distant background are acceptable.

Use rights:

Each participant retains all copyrights to their photographs, and recognition will be provided alongside any use of the photographic submissions.

By submitting a photographic entry to this competition:
- -Participants confirm that the submission is their own work and that they have the permissions necessary to share it with ICLEI Africa.
- -Participants grant ICLEI Africa the right to showcase the photographs on the #AfricanCITYFOODMonth, #RISEAfrica and #AfriFOODlinks platforms as well as to use them for promotional purposes.

Shortlisting and prizes:

Based on the selection criteria, 8-12 entries will be shortlisted.

Our judging panel will then select 3 winners to be awarded $500 each.

Winners will be announced in September and showcased on our social media platforms — LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter — and websites: afriFOODlinks.org and africa.iclei.org.

All submissions will be considered for inclusion in the #AfriFOODlinks recipe book that is under development. Entrants will be contacted with further details should their submission be selected for inclusion.

Disclaimer:

ICLEI Africa reserves the right to define the particular criteria for choosing the most compelling submission and not to select winners.
For any inquiries about the photography competition, please contact Luka Dreyer at luka.dreyer@iclei.org

The AfricanCITYFOODmonth Photo Competition is supported through the AfriFOODlinks project, coordinated by ICLEI Africa and funded by the European Union.