1. The Contest

Chachipe means “truth” or “reality” in Romanes, and it can also mean “right.” As organizers of the Chachipe Map international photo contest, the Open Society Foundations and OSA Archivum at Central European University invite you to show us through photos how you see your world, your reality and what you believe to be true.

The first Chachipe photo contest was announced in 2007, and a second contest, Chachipe Youth, was held in 2009. This year’s contest puts a special emphasis on the geographical distribution of Roma culture and the symbolic “remapping” of events and actions related to Roma, a fact emphasized by the word “Map” in the title of the contest. If you upload a photo and specify the name of the place where the photo was taken it will appear on an interactive map on the Chachipe Map website. This year you can upload photos in the following three categories: Local Hero, Common Denominator, and Dream Come True.

The most important goal of the contest is to give you an opportunity to show how you see Roma and their situation in society and in the community where you live. We are seeking non-stereotypical photographs that are free of prejudices, that show Roma and non-Roma living together, that approach topics in an open manner and that might even employ radically new perspectives.

This call for entries is open to everybody. In order to be eligible for the contest, however, photos submitted must have been taken during the period 2005–2011 in countries participating in the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015: Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain.

2. Categories

Local Hero

There are people living among us who make significant contributions to their communities, and to peaceful relations between Roma and their neighbors. Unlike celebrities and stars, these people do not receive attention from the media. We challenge you to look for such people in your neighborhood, to find people you respect and would be proud to include in an imaginary photo album. Look for people who are concerned about the fate of Roma and who through their actions have already proved this to you, your family or those around you. It could be your best friend, one of your relatives, your neighbor or a significant figure in your community—anyone who is worthy of being immortalized. Show this person in action or in a context that explains your choice. In the titles of your photos, please indicate why you consider the people depicted to be heroes.

Common Denominator

From your perspective as Roma or non-Roma, think about whether there are more similarities than differences between you and people from “the other side.” What are the events and experiences that we share regardless of our affiliations? In your photos, try to present those things that bind Roma and non-Roma together, try to capture situations where the divisions between us are not a factor. Your personal involvement could make the photo even more valuable. In the titles of your photos, please describe the experiences that have presented an opportunity to get to know and accept each other.

Dream Come True

We all have dreams, no matter where we are born or whether we are Roma or not, and sometimes these dreams are not parts of an imaginary world. Dreams do not necessarily refer to material possessions, but also to a desire come true, a happy moment, or the achievements of a person or a community. Try to find situations where realized dreams are apparent. Find members of the Roma community who have fulfilled their dreams—or show us your own. Show us what you consider to be good in the world or what it is that could make reality—which is not always beautiful—better. In the titles of your photos, please express the dreams that have come true.

3. Contest Conditions

Participation in the contest is free of charge, and you can apply irrespective of your age and citizenship. You can enter your photos in the contest from October 19 through November 20, 2011, by uploading them to English-language website at www.chachipe.org.

Uploaded photos will appear on the public Chachipe website after a 24-hour delay, without the name of the photographer. However, the jury will only evaluate photos if the photographers have signed the Author’s Declaration and sent it by mail or fax, or uploaded a scanned copy to the Chachipe website, before the closing date of the contest. Should you need any help with completing the application form, please contact our program coordinator Zsófia Horváth at [email protected] or +36 30 250 2635.

For the purposes of organizing the contest and evaluating the photos, and in order to respect copyright, we ask you to provide several pieces of personal information; however, the organizers of Chachipe Map guarantee that your personal rights will be respected. If the photographer is a minor, we also need the contact information of the parents or caretakers, who must also sign the application form. By signing the Author’s Declaration, which is part of the application form, applicants declare that they hold all copyrights related to the photos and that they allow the Open Society Foundations and OSA Archivum to exhibit and post the photos on their websites, for non-commercial purposes.

You may only enter photographs that have not been published or exhibited previously. (Posting on a personal website does not constitute publishing.) A photographer may enter a maximum of 10 photos in the contest.

We can only accept digital or digitalized photos in JPEG format, with a minimum resolution of 2048 x 1536 (3 Mpixel). We cannot upload photos; you must do this yourself. We consider photos to be manipulated if parts are added or deleted, colors are changed or filters are used. Manipulated photos will be excluded from the contest.

4. Prizes

The international jury will award 3 prizes in each category—of 1000, 500 and 300 Euros, respectively—and may also award special prizes. Winners will be announced on the Chachipe Map website in December 2011.

A selection of the best photos from the Chachipe Map contest will be exhibited in Budapest in 2012. The opening of the exhibition will also serve as the awards ceremony for the contest.

Our hope is that photographs from the contest will visit other Decade of Roma Inclusion countries as well.

For more information, please contact Chachipe program coordinator Zsófia Horváth at tel. +36 30 250 2635 or [email protected].

Chachipe photos

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