For the 2020 Youth Competition, we decided to shake things up with a new format: this year we're running seven monthly competitions – from June to December – with a changing theme. Below are the winning and shortlisted entries from the July competition, where we asked photographers aged 12-19 years old to submit their best images relating to the environment.
The environment and our relationship to it has become a core subject in today's photography. Photographers around the world are using the power of the image to inspire action and behavioral change. July's brief was to show, in a single image, an individual's interpretation to the current environmental changes happening across the world.
WINNER
Dita Suci Putri Rahmawati, Indonesia, 18 years old
"I took this photograph on 3 July 2019 at TPST Piyungan in the Bantul Regency of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This image shows a neighborhood close to my home which really needs attention. Every day people come to look through the rubbish. The health risks and long working hours is not ideal. The cattle that roam in the TPST survive by eating the waste."
"Being this month's Youth competition winner will I'm sure be very influential in all aspects of my life. I'm so glad the image I've taken will be appreciated and enjoyed by so many people around the world. The news has spurred my passion to produce better and more photographic artwork."
SHORTLIST
Jane Botova, Russia Federation, 16 years old
"While this image shows the beauty of this location, this river is in fact very polluted. The water is very cloudy, fish can no longer survive in the waters, swimming is no longer allowed and the river is now very shallow. With this photograph, I wanted to show how wonderful the spot is so that people would stop littering such wonderful places."
Hanlin Bi, China Mainland, 19 years old
I took this aerial shot during my trip to Dolomites in July of this year (2019). I flew my drone above the Carezza Lake and discovered many felled trees.
Nabeel ur Rehman, India, 19 years old
This is my creative interpretation to remind everyone not to use plastic. I wanted this small piece of plastic to represent a big cyclone. It's time for us to stop using plastic.
Paul Berthon, France, 17 years old
"I captured this moment in a windy field and hid behind a gold rescue blanket shaped like a marble sculpture. I've erased my feet in Photoshop to make this image more abstract and surreal, like a lost soul in the desert. It's about us: we live in a golden bubble where everything that is in the outside seems irrelevant. This seemingly flattering extension of our body turns us into a distorted monster that no longer has a place in its original environment."
Mac Sealy, Australia, 13 years old
"I took this photograph of a large school of fish in the beautiful blue waters of Anguilla in the Caribbean under a ledge of a huge protruding rock. I felt like they were asking for my help to remind humans to protect the amazing environment that they live in."
