General conditions:
The photo competition invites young people from the most diverse social groups possible to submit photo stories on a topic relevant to them as a team effort.
The competition is aimed at up to 1,000 teams of three to ten young people between the ages of 10 and 18. By working in teams, collaborative development and a diversity of perspectives are supported. If the teams wish, they can receive organizational support from a coach of their choice from their personal environment (school, street worker, sports club, youth club, refugee aid facility, etc.).
Both smartphones and cameras can be used and submissions are accepted regardless of previous experience in photography or journalism.
For socially or otherwise disadvantaged or needy groups, a support fund has been set up to cover special organizational costs such as translators or room costs.
It is a new and particularly low-threshold journalistic format that promotes young people’s media skills and empowers them to voice their concerns through their own actions. This motivates them to engage with new topics and opinions and to enter into an effective dialog with others.
The competition is thematically open and makes it possible to put the idea of “living democracy” into practice. The aim is to create a documentary photo series that represents a personal concern of the young people and points out a problem or a particularly positive aspect of their lives. This creative form of participation allows them to raise their voices and draw attention to social issues. Photography is a perfect medium for this, as smartphones with cameras are firmly anchored in young people’s everyday lives.
All submitted photo series are first viewed by an expert awards team. The pre-selection will then be curated and evaluated by a top-class jury headed by Christoph Bangert (Professor of Photography at the University of Hanover and World Press Photo winner).
Prizes will be awarded to three projects in each of two age groups.
The prizes, each endowed with 1,000 euros, will be awarded on November 23, 2024.
Selected competition entries will be made accessible to the general public at a vernissage and a subsequent two-week exhibition at Jupiter Hamburg at the end of November. During this time, workshops are also held there for school classes and youth groups to teach media skills and basic photojournalistic knowledge.
A longer-term presentation takes place via the award website.
“Jugend fotografiert Deutschland” aims to promote media skills and interest in photography and journalistic work among young people through teamwork. It is therefore not in competition with the renowned German Youth Photography Award, whose main aim is to discover individual young photographic talents and support them in developing photography as a personal and artistic form of expression.