Abuja, Nigeria – The U.S. Embassy in Abuja is inviting Nigerians to compete in its NaijaGems photography contest, an initiative of the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, W. Stuart Symington. The contest opens on Friday, April 6, 2018 and submissions are due on May 4, 2018. The top photos will win prizes.
This contest will offer Nigerians an opportunity to showcase the beauty of their country through magnificent photography and tell a positive story through pictures.
Ambassadors Symington has visited all 36 states in Nigeria and in his words, “There are all across this country, places of spectacular beauty, including some of the rarest and most beautiful flora, flowers and fauna, rock structures, rivers, waterfalls, and historic structures, things created by God and things created by man from one end of this country to the other. We want you to take a picture of one of those Nigerian gems – things or places that cause every Nigerian and every other person in the world who sees it to go ‘WOW’.
Entrants must produce high-resolution, original photographs of places of beauty that are peculiar to a region or state; the locations should be a symbol of pride to the people and culture of that state.
Two identical photos are to be taken; one should include a human subject who verifies the originality of the work and he/she should be tagged in the submission. Photos are to be uploaded to Flickr with a clear description of the location and why the object or scene is important to that particular community, state, or the nation as a whole. The photos are also to be uploaded to Instagram tagging U.S. Mission Nigeria (@usinnigeria) as well as the human subject in the photo.
The contest is open to all adult Nigerians. We are looking for originality and creativity as well as compelling photography skills.
At the end of the submission period, the photos that have garnered the greatest amount of online engagement based on likes, shares, and comments, will be presented to a committee of judges who will select the prize winners based on the quality of the photos and how well they conveyed the theme of the contest.
For those who are not able to submit entries, they may contribute to the contest results by indicating a like online for someone else’s photo. Again, photos that receive the most engagement will move forward to be judged by the expert panel.
The top three photo entries will win high-quality Canon cameras. The results will be announced online and the winners will be invited to the embassy to receive their prizes while consolation prizes will be given to the top photos from all 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT. The winning photos will also be featured in an exhibition in Abuja.
For a full explanation of the contest rules, go to the NaijaGems Photography Contest page on this website
