Through my eyes - Do our cities accommodate happy spaces for young children and their caregivers?

Background

National Institute of Urban Affairs, with support from Bernard van Leer Foundation, is implementing the ‘Infant, Toddler and Caregiver-Friendly Neighbourhoods (ITCN) Capacity Building Programme' focused on city officials and young professionals. The Programme is anchored by the Inclusive Cities Centre (ICC) at NIUA and aims at addressing the development needs of the cities’ youngest citizens, below the age of six years, and their caregivers through planning and development interventions at Neighbourhood level on a city-wide scale.

Young children and their caregivers especially pregnant mothers are among the most vulnerable groups to the negative impacts urban systems can have on human health. Young children face many problems as public spaces are often designed being inconsiderate about the special needs of a young child. The ITCN Capacity Building Programme aims to build an ideal neighborhood where young children may feel comfortable, explore, play, and engage with their built and natural surroundings

The ITCN Capacity Building Programme is planning to launch the “National Photography Competition” to achieve the following objectives:

• To raise awareness and sensitize people on the challenges faced by young children and their caregivers in urban setting.
• To highlight some good practices in the country to make our cities young child friendly.
• To advocate for the concerns of the young children to promote early childhood development.

Theme

Through my eyes- Do our cities accommodate happy spaces for young children and their caregivers?

Who can participate

Urban practitioners, students, caregivers & keen observers.

Request for photographs

When we make our communities better place for young children, we make them better place for all. With this thought, we request all of you to capture how friendly or unfriendly your city is for young children and their caregivers. This may be depicted through capturing challenges, good practices, curious observations or anything that arises the concern or makes you appreciate the effort towards young children (0-6 year) and caregivers.

Timelines

Submission guidelines for photographs

1. Send your entries using the form provided on the webpage. Provide a caption and brief description explaining what your photograph depicts and how it represents the theme.
2. Submissions will not be accepted once the deadline lapses.
3. Submitted images should not be larger than 5 MB. Photos must be in JPEG or PNG format.
4. The participant must be a citizen of India, residing in India.
5. The photograph should respect the theme.
6. A maximum of two entries is allowed per person.
7. The photograph must be original; there must be no border(s), logo(s), copyright marks, identifying marks, logos, or any other visible references and/or marks on the image.
8. Basic editing, including color enhancement, the use of filters, and cropping of the photo(s) is acceptable, provided any such editing does not affect the authenticity and/or genuineness of the photo.
9. Advanced editing used to create illusions, deceptions, and/or manipulations, and the adding and removing of significant elements within the frame is prohibited.
10. Photos that portray or otherwise include inappropriate and/or offensive content, including provocative nudity, violence, human rights and/or environmental violation, and/or any other content deemed to be contrary to the law, religious, cultural & moral traditions, and practices of India, are strictly prohibited and will be immediately discarded.

Details of submission

Submit your entries here

Any photograph received after October 31, 2022, 11:59 PM will not be considered for the competition.

Judging Parameters

• Judging panel will comprise of members from NIUA, Photography expert and subject matter experts as decided by the ITCN Capacity Building Programme.
• Images will be judged on originality, concept, technical excellence, composition, overall impact, and artistic merit.
• In case of any issues, the Judges’ decision is final and binding on all participants with respect to all matters relating to the contest.
• The judging panel shall assess and determine the winning photos. The results and the winners will be announced on the NIUA website.

Result Announcement

Heartfelt congratulations to the winners of three best images! The images were so thought provoking that we couldn’t resist having 3 special mentions as well.

 

Winners

1st - ‘Love for Education’ by Seshadri Moitra, Calcutta

2nd - ‘The jump of joy’ by Ravichandra GS, Hyderabad

3rd winner – ‘Unbound – The spark of freedom’ by Ravichandra GS, Hyderabad

Special mentions

‘Happiness’ by Sujan Sarkar, Coochbehar, West Bengal

‘The road not taken’ by Priyanka Krishnan, Bengaluru

‘Fun Education’ by Yele Venkateswarlu, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh

Jury panel

Hannah Rothschild, Lead, Knowledge Uptake & Communications, Bernard van Leer Foundation. Her background merges experiences in urban policy, multi-stakeholder collaboration and strategic communication. Working with local environmental start-ups to international organisations around the world, she believes that creative problem-solving, storytelling and evidence-based policies are essential for environmental and social action, especially at the urban level.

Ms. Avantika Sharma, Filmmaker & Director, An alumni of Jamia Millia Islamia, Avantika Sharma is a filmmaker with over 15 years of experience. Primarily working in documentaries and advertising, her work involves a careful curation of the visual image. Avantika’s documentaries have appeared on the Discovery and History Channel and other international platforms as well.

Mr Krishna Kant Pandey, Team Leader, ITCN Capacity Building Programme, NIUA. He is postgraduate in Social Work, a development sector professional with over 20 years experience of working on health and children related issues. He is diligently moving towards creating a young child & caregiver friendly neighbourhoods a reality in India.

Intellectual Property Rights

• Submitted photos must be original, created, and/or taken by the contestant. It must not contain any materials owned or controlled by a third party for which you have not obtained a license, and must not infringe the copyright, trademark, moral rights, rights of privacy/publicity, or intellectual property rights of any person or entity.
• Copyrights shall remain vested with the creator of the image. Upon submitting, you grant ITCN Capacity Building Programme, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty- free, sub-licensable right and license to use, publish, reproduce, display, perform, adapt, create derivative works, distribute, have distributed, print, in whole or in part, in any form, in all media forms now or hereafter known, to promote the contest, image, the photographer or for editorial or educative use.
• The Photographer will be credited wherever the image is used.

Prizes