Rome, 28 April 2021
Media contact: Gabriel López Santamaria, gabriel@catholicclimatemovement.global
New Laudato Si’ photo contest invites Catholics to share the cry of the Earth, the cry of the poor and creation’s beauty
#LaudatoSiMoment winners will be featured by Vatican News
“We have been becoming more aware that nature deserves to be protected, if only because human interactions with God’s [God-given] biodiversity must take place with the utmost care and respect: caring for biodiversity, caring for nature.”
Through a new collaboration featuring the Vatican, Catholics all over the globe are invited to show their love for God’s biodiversity by sharing it with the world.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Vatican News, and the Global Catholic Climate Movement warmly invite the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics to participate in a new Laudato Si’ photo contest that will help raise awareness about the urgent need to contemplate and care for creation.
The ecological crisis is a far too often overlooked crisis as the world rightly focuses much of its attention on the climate emergency. But the health of creation, as measured through its biodiversity, is inextricably linked with the climate.
Vibrant forests and grasslands store carbon. A diverse ecosystem supports pollinators, which play a vital role in our food security. Healthy wetlands buffer extreme storms and floods, which scientists say are more likely to occur as the Earth’s temperature rises.
To help raise awareness about the need to care for biodiversity on 22 May, International Day for Biological Diversity, Catholics around the world are asked to share their #LaudatoSiMoment.
How can people participate?
To participate, take a photo that shows one of three things:
- The cry of the Earth: the impact of the ecological crisis on creation
- The cry of the poor: the impact of the ecological crisis on the most vulnerable
- “For we know things can change” (LS 13), the theme of Laudato Si’ Week: Celebrating and showing creation’s beauty
There will be three winners per category. This contest will reward the significance of each photo’s message rather than the technique or precise quality of each image.
Next, participants should share the photo on social media with #LaudatoSiMoment and #LaudatoSiWeek and tag the following accounts on one of the below three social media channels:
Facebook: Global Catholic Climate Movement, Vatican News
Twitter: @CathClimateMvmt @VaticanIHD, @VaticanNews
Instagram: @livelaudatosi, @VaticanIHD, @VaticanNews
When should participants share their photos?
The photo contest starts 28 April and closes 15 May. The awards will be given on 22 May, the International Day for Biological Diversity.
The contest will conclude during Laudato Si’ Week 2021, 16-24 May, when the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics will unite to celebrate the great progress the global Church has made on its journey to ecological conversion.
Laudato Si’ Week 2021 will also be a time to reflect on what the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us and to prepare for the future with hope.
How will participants know if they win?
They can sign up at laudatosiweek.org to be notified.
What can they win?
- A joint diploma from the Vatican Dicastery for Communication and the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
- An interview with Vatican News
- Award-winning photos will be shared on social media by GCCM and the Vatican
Questions?
Participants can ask the Global Catholic Climate Movement questions on social (above) or by emailing socialmedia@catholicclimatemovement.global.
NOTE: Transfer of rights
Participants should understand that GCCM receives the rights to your photograph in order for us to make use of it. The participants’ names, however, will always appear with the photograph in all publications.