?Achievement? is to be the theme of the 2006/7 Commonwealth Photographic Awards. The seventh annual competition is open to all Commonwealth residents and is designed to offer an insight into how people in the Commonwealth, with its mixture of races, creeds, cultures and ways of life, see themselves and others.

Organised by the Commonwealth Press Union, Achievement is the theme of the open competition, while two additional categories will invite entries from particular groups.

The Canberra Times/CPU Young Photographer Award will be offered to a young person (aged 21-25 on 17 January 2007) from a developing country. The prize is a three-week photographic residency at the newspaper?s offices in Canberra, Australia. The award reflects the fact that nearly half of the Commonwealth?s population is under the age of thirty (900 million).

A ?Three Pictures ? One Story? section meanwhile is inviting entrants to create a storyboard. The purpose is to tell a story of achievement in three pictures for a prize of £250. The overall winner of the Commonwealth Photographic Awards will receive £1000 sterling, and further prizes will be awarded to the regional winners.

CPU Training Director, Jane Rangeley said, ?We organise the Commonwealth Photographic Awards for many reasons, one of them being that we believe photography to be vital to the success of a newspaper. We hope that we will play a part in encouraging newspapers to use photographs more on their pages and young photographers to take better pictures. By supporting photographers ? whether amateur or professional, young or old ? we are encouraging an independent view, press freedom and democracy. We therefore endeavour, via these Awards, to promote photography as an important form of media.?

As part of the competition, there will be several exhibitions taking place in Commonwealth cities featuring the winning images. The first will be in London in March 2007. The final competition deadline is Wednesday 17 January 2007. Full details on the Awards and winning photographs from previous years are available at www.cpu.org.uk


Image: Last year’s winning entry was captured by Australia’s Steve Ferrier