A Photo Contest to Benefit Kids of Kathmandu

© Jami Saunders/Kids of Kathmandu

© Jami Saunders/Kids of Kathmandu

In partnership with Kids of Kathmandu, Feature Shoot is holding a competition, open to all photographers, around the theme of “Childhood Everyday.” In the vein of our new Instagram account, we’re looking for photographs that capture the experience of growing up around the world. Our two jurors, Feature Shoot Editor-in-Chief Alison Zavos and Jami Saunders, Co-Founder and President of Kids of Kathmandu, will select twelve images to be a part of the Kids of Kathmandu gala and photography auction this October, with all proceeds going to build schools in areas affected by last year’s earthquake. All work will be printed by the experts at Ken Allen Studios, and each of the winners will also receive a Leather Presidio camera strap in Antique Cognac by our sponsors at ONA.

It’s been a little over one year since the April 2015 earthquake hit Nepal, leaving thousands of children without access to a place to learn. Almost five thousand schools were destroyed. In the wake of the disaster, Kids of Kathmandu, in partnership with Asia Friendship Network, built tents to serve as temporary classrooms. They provided school supplies in the hardest hit and remotest villages. Now, they’re building 50 permanent schools, which will collectively serve an estimated 10,000 children.

In the past sixteen years, Asia Friendship Network has introduced more than eighty new schools, working alongside the Nepali Ministry of Education to build affordable facilities and train qualified instructors. The ambitious initiative with Kids of Kathmandu will elevate not only the educational standards of public schools but also the quality of life for thousands of children, who will have a safe place to study and play.

As part of the plan to build 50 schools, Kids of Kathmandu will also work to provide clean water, solar power, electronics, and web access to surrounding communities. They have already broken ground on nine schools and are planning to have them complete by November 2016.

All winning photographers will have their work exhibited at the gala and online on Feature Shoot proper. The submission fee is $15 for one image, $20 for two images, and $30 for five images. All proceeds from both the submissions and print sales will go to Kids of Kathmandu. Submit here.

Please read the Terms & Conditions for the contest here.

Leather Presidio camera strap in Antique Cognac by ONA

Some of our most recent submissions:

From Soy Peruana, a series of photographs made in the Peruvian Andes. © James Gilmore

I recently spent two weeks in Ghana, working with Konadu Basic School, in partnership with the Thaakat Foundation and Photographers Without Borders. While there, I lived with the founder of the school, his wife and their one year old daughter Liz. Spending each day with Liz was a favorite part of my experience. She is full energy, joy and curiosity, and it was powerful to bear witness to the simplicity and beauty of her daily life. © Lisa Weatherbee

In Korea we have a saying: ‘naughty 7 years old’. We think a child of six or seven is at their most mischievous, which is when I started photographing my niece, Yeonsoo. It took a while for me to understand that a kid has a character that hasn’t settled down yet. Her experience of the world is very limited by her young age and yet, a kid’s imagination is unlimited; they can be anybody they want to be. Looking at her, I often felt as if I was looking at myself as a child. It allowed me to meditate about how I came to be the woman I am today. © Hye-Ryoung Min

Ebba: A Toddler is an ongoing body of work of my daughter’s toddler years © Douglas Ljungkvist

These photographs describe the Brazilian mining town, Cristalândia, as a place – an accumulation of shared experiences with land and people. Through shared experience, we bind ourselves to each other. Through shared experience, we belong. Cristalândia is a mining town whose mining no longer sustains it. Its tropical, rural climate is warm enough to blur the line between inside and outside, private and public, so that humanness is laid bare. © Joe Reynolds

While walking around the streets of Gorée Island, in Senegal, I bumped into a Sunday morning soccer match. What struck me the most, apart from the beautiful location where the soccer game was being held, was how kids from all ages could mingle and have fun together. It seemed like any kid from the community, whether 6 years old or 16 could play. © Sofia Verzbolovskis

Teva waits for her turn in the ladies breakaway roping event at the Lester Meier Open Pro Rodeo in Cuero, Texas. © Bonnie Arbittier

Commute, Hanoi © Adam Birkan

Growing Milo from the series ‘Growing Up Southern’ © Ashleigh Coleman

Coastal Maine © Kari Herer

My daughter Billie-Jo has Down Syndrome and for the past few years I have been taking photographs documenting her transformation from a child into a young woman © Fiona Bailey

Discover More