Poverty Map Contest

Writing and Photo Essay Contest on PEF National Poverty Map

The Peace and Equity Foundation's National Poverty Map is intended as a guide to provide meaningful intervention and partnerships to help poor communities. The first PEF National Poverty Map was done in 2003 where 28 priority provinces were identified. to date, 18 of the 29 provinces (including NCR) have been mapped and the recently updated 2007 PEF National Poverty Map will be launched to the public this December.

To mark this milestone, PEF is conducting a PEF Poverty Map Creative Writing and Photo Essay Contest in line with the 2007 Social Development Week celebrations in December at the Glorietta Activity Center, Makati City.

The contest aims to create awareness and educate the youth on the country's poverty situation. Through creative writing and photography, the youth are given the opportunity to express their learning and appreciation of the prevalence of poverty in the country, as described in the National Poverty Map. Their works will then be used to generate more interest in PEF's poverty reduction programs.

Eligibility:

1. The contest is open to all Filipino citizens ages 18 to 25 years old enrolled in any Higher Education Institution.
2. Collaboration between and among two or more people is not allowed.
3. Employees, officers, members of the Board of Trustees and the General Assembly of PEF including spouses, children and relatives up to the second degree of consaguinity and affinity are disqualified.

Contest Categories

1. Creative Writing Contest
2. Photo Essay Contest

The electronic format of the National Poverty Map and entry forms are available in selected colleges and universities and at the PEF area offices and partner organizations nationwide. It could also be viewed and downloaded online at www.pef.ph.

Contest Theme:

Poverty in the Philippines comes in many faces: faces of sadness, despair, fear, anxiety and perhaps anger for the pain and suffering that people go through. But through the cooperation of community members and with the active involvement of stakeholders, these dull images could be filled with color and life. As the poverty situation in our country is a story filled with the stark contrasts of colors, we face the challenge of creating new faces of hope, excitement, optimism and determination to fulfill the promise of a better and brighter tomorrow. Hence the theme, "Mga Kulay ng Kahirapan, Hamon ng Kinabukasan"

Technical Requirements of the Entries:

1. For Creative Writing Entries:
* Each contestant for the Creative Writing Contest is allowed to submit only one (1) entry form of a short story in Filipino, English or both.
* The entry should not exceed two thousand (2,000) words and should be typewritten or computer printed double-spaced using Arial font size 12 on a standard short bond paper. Only the titles of the entries can appear on the short story or essay.
2. For Photo Essay Entries:
* Each contestant for the Photo Essay Contest is allowed to submit only one (1) entry composed of three (3) digital color photographs in 5R size.
* Each entry must include digital copies of the photographs in a CD. Maximum file size for each photograph is 2MB.
* Each entry must have a title and every photo must have a caption at the back describing where the photographs were taken and what they are depicting. The caption should not exceed fifteen (15) words.
* Each photograph must also be properly numbered to identify the sequence of the entry (eg. 1 of 3, 2 of 3, etc.). The name of the contestant should not appear in any of the photographs.
3. Each entry must be an interpretation or story of poverty in the Philippines using the National Poverty Map based on the theme given.
4. Each entry must be wholly original. An entry found to have committed any violations of applicable laws in plagiarism and protection of intellectual property will be automatically disqualified.
5. No story, essay or photograph that has already been published or publicly distributed by the author may be entered.
6. An entry that qualifies for the finals cannot be published or distributed prior to December 4, 2007.

Submission of Entries

1. All entries should be submitted with duly accomplished entry forms.
2. All entries for submission must include photocopies of the following:
* Current school registration form or Certificate of Registration from the Registrar's Office and;
* Birth Certificate or Baptismal Certificate
3. Entries should be placed in a short brown envelope and can be mailed or personally delivered by the contestant or his/her authorized representative to the PEF National Poverty Mapping Contest Secretariat.
4. Entries that are received by the Secretariat after the deadline must be post marked in order for the entry to be valid.

Screening of Entries

1. Code numbers will be assigned to all entries for purposed of confidentiality.
2. Each contest category will have six (6) finalists which will be determined by the contest categories' respective Screening Comittees.
3. The decision of the Screening Committee is final and binding.

Criteria for Screening and Judging

With the creative interpretation of the PEF National Poverty Map being foremost in mind, the criteria for each contest are as follows:

For the Creative Writing Contest:

1. Substance and Originality: 40%
2. Writing Style, Composition and Organization: 40%
3. Use of PEF National Poverty Map Data: 20%

For the Photo Essay Contest:

1. Relevance to the Theme: 25%
2. Composition: 25%
3. Creativity: 35%
4. Use of the PEF National Poverty Data: 15%

Board of Judges

1. A Board of Judges will choose the winners from among the 6 finalist for each contest category.
2. The judges' decision will be final and binding.

Prizes and Awards:

1. Each of the six (6) finalist for each contest category will receive individual certificates.
2. One (1) Grand Prize Winner will be chosen for each contest category. The Grand Prize Winners will receive a TROPHY and a PEF DEVELOPMENT ENCOUNTER PACKAGE for TWO which includes:
* Roundtrip Airfare/Ship or Bus fare to any of the 29 PEF Priority Provinces
* Free lodging
* Pocket Money (Php 1,000 per day/person)
3. The remaining five finalists will receive Consolation Prizes consisting of brand new cell phones with Php 1,000 worth of load.
4. Other outstanding entries worthy of recognition may be given special awards. These special awardees will be chosen by PEF.
5. All prizes are not convertible to cash and must be availed of within 90 days after the contest finals.

Important Dates:

Official Contest Launch: October 08, 2007
Deadline for Submission of Entries: November 16, 2007
Announcement of Finalists: November 26, 2007
Announcement of Winners: December 4, 2007

For more information, please contact the nearest PEF office.