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Canon Champions Global Good Youth for Third Year!
We are honoured and delighted to announce that Canon EMEA will once again be sponsoring the Young Champion of the Year Award in 2022.
In 2021, we had our highest number of entrants to date for this category. Divided in to two age groups, this Award recognises young people between the ages of 9 and 21 who show outstanding leadership in campaigning for a social or environmental issue and use photography to creatively convey their messages.
Adam Pensotti, Head of the Canon Young People Programme, expressed his optimism and hopes going forward following the challenges we have all faced in recent times:
“Learning from 2020/21 and all the great Canon Young Champion of the Year entries I saw, I would love to see and hear more ideas from more countries, from more young challengers with even more powerful voices calling for change. If I am looking for one aspect, one element that needs to stand out, it is the strength of individual conviction combined with the hard work and personal ability to make the idea a reality. That idea needs to show the spark of creativity that will drive change to our futures, demonstrating to all of us that together, we can, and will, make a difference.”
From Greta Thunberg’s first climate strike in 2018 to COP26, 2021 has confirmed young people are leading the way on climate change. We are not surprised, therefore, that the Canon Young Champion of the Year Award is one of our most entered categories and, in 2021, received the greatest global spread of applications yet from five continents. They are a huge source of inspiration for the judges and everyone in the Global Good community. The winners this year are no exception:
Mishal and Mir Faraz, Under 16 Canon Young Champions of 2021
At only 14 and 11 years of age, siblings Mishal and Mir had already been environmental campaigners for seven years in the UAE.
Together they have volunteered hundreds of hours to protect the environment and as published authors and radio presenters, they use these media channels to spread awareness about community and social causes. Mishal & Mir said: “We’re just trying to do our bit – striving to create a ripple effect and make our time on this earth worthwhile.”
Mishal & Mir are very excited about their prize: “We can’t say it enough how much we love the camera and how eagerly we’re looking forward to capture some riveting frames. We’ve got loads of events coming up – we intend to use it create visual stories to promote sustainability”.
Samuel Anjolaoluwa, Under 21 Canon Young Champion of 2021
Samuel’s project, The Students of Ibadan, highlights the challenges faced by Nigerian students from low-income families who strive to get an education in government schools. He was inspired by taking part in the FAME (Fashioned and Made for Excellence) Foundation’s Illuminate Leadership Program, a youth development initiative that empowers underserved secondary school students with the skills to succeed in the 21st century.
The judges described Samuel’s entry as: “A great project with beautiful photographs that really capture the spirits and struggles to learn in the rural schools of Ibadan in Nigeria. Samuel’s passion for the project shines through.”
The winners both received brand new Canon 250D cameras and Canon SELPHY X10 printers were awarded to all runners up.
Read the inspiring stories of all the 2021 Canon Young Champion of the Year finalists here.
This award category is free to enter and will be accepting entries for 2022 from 31st January – 29th April. For full details of the award and to download the supporting tool kit please click here.
You can see the full listing of all our 2021 winners here.
