National photography competition focuses on faith and community

An annual national photography competition which aims to showcase the positive impact of faith in the community launches its 2011 competition today – amateur photographers are encouraged to share their own personal experiences through images they have captured.
 
‘Faith through a lens’ enables budding photographers across the country to convey the importance of faith, be it within their local communities or globally – last year’s winner portrayed a Haitian grandmother with child following the country’s earthquake.
 
Now in its second year, the competition, which is the creation of national church and home insurer Congregational & General, will be judged by a panel which includes internationally renowned photo-journalist Don McCullin.
 
Members of the public will, for the first time, also have the opportunity to vote for their favourite image through the dedicated microsite – www.faiththroughalens.co.uk – and social media platforms when the public voting stage of the competition opens on 1 September. 
 
The competition seeks to inspire people by providing five categories that the winning image will be judged upon. The categories are: Moments of Faith; Community Heroes; Places of Faith; Community Spirit Against the Odds and New Faith. 
 
Margaret Slater, Marketing Manager at Congregational, said: “We live in a multi-cultural and diverse society and Faith through a lens is a fantastic way for anyone, whether budding photographers or not, to capture what ‘faith’ means to them.
 
“Following last year’s success, we hope to encourage continued interaction within various faith communities across the UK whilst supporting photography at a grassroots level.”
 
The winning photographers in the competition will not only receive a prize for themselves, but prizes will also be awarded to their chosen faith, charity or community group.
 
Photo entries can be uploaded to www.faiththroughalens.co.uk (where further details of the competition, requirements and prizes can be found) or via the Congregational & General Facebook page.

The winner, runner-up and highly recommended entrants will be announced at an exclusive event to be held during Interfaith Week, 20-26 November 2011.
 
The judging panel for Faith Through a Lens consists of internationally renowned photo-journalist Don McCullin; Chief Executive of Community Matters, David Tyler; Revd Dr David Cornick, General Secretary of Churches Together in England; and Paresh Solanki from Inter Faith Network.