Call for Applications: Karura Photo Competition (Kenya)

The Friends of Karura is a Community Forest Association comprising Kenyans and other champions of participatory forest management who are dedicated in particular to protecting for future generations the city’s largest green area, the Karura Forest Reserve.

Friends of Karura Community Forest Association (FKF), in partnership with the Kenya Forest Service and numerous private supporters, is committed to a future for people and nature though participatory forest management. Since FKF was registered under the Societies Act of Kenya in October 2009, Karura Forest had offered tens of thousands of visitors some 50 km of well-maintained secure trails to walk, run or bike, as well as for FKF staff to restore the forest to its natural state and maintain it for future generations.

Apart from significant achievements in securing, managing, and preserving the Karura ecosystem, the forest has become one of Nairobi’s most frequently visited natural recreation locations, leading to it being known as “the people’s forest.” Karura has become an oasis of peace, tranquillity, safety and recreation for tens of thousands of Kenyans and overseas visitors from all walks of life.

Much of the success of Karura is due to the recovery of the array of biodiversity associated with a thriving tropical upland forest that has enjoyed a number of years of exceptionally good rains.

This year, they invite you to share with them what you have seen and photographed within Karura Forest Reserve at any time — rainy or sunny – ideally during, but not confined to, one of the two “rainy seasons” (typically March-May and October-November), recognising that in recent years, Karura can attract rain almost anytime. Aim to express and interpret the importance of preserving this special upland forest as a haven for human enjoyment and ecosystem biodiversity. Show them your interpretation of Karura’s Rainy Season Revival.

Prizes 

• Adult 
  • 1st: 50,000
  • 2nd: 30,000
  • 3rd: 15,000
• Junior 
  • 1st: 15,000
  • 2nd: 10,000
  • 3rd: 7,000

Eligibility Criteria

• The 2024 FKF Photo Competition (“Photo Competition”) is open to all professional and amateur photographers who have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry.
• Entrants in the Junior category (less than 18 years old) must provide a note of Consent to Participate by a parent or guardian. Individuals under the age of 18 may enter the competition in the Junior Category, to which all Rules apply.
• Members of the same family may enter separately, but in such a case, each entry must be accompanied with a hand-written note signed by each entrant to the effect that he or she did indeed shoot a particular entry.
• Board Members, Employees, interns, or partners of FKF, as well as the immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings, and children) and household members of employees, are not eligible to enter.
• By submitting an entry to the Photo Competition, entrants certify that their participation in this Photo Competition is not illegal or in violation of any law, regulation, treaty or administrative act, and that the laws of their governing jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry do not prohibit or restrict the receipt of any Prize under this Photo Competition.
• FKF reserves the right to reject any entry if, in FKF’s sole discretion, the laws of an applicable jurisdiction, including but not limited to the entrant’s jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry, would prohibit or limit FKF from proceeding with the Competition as intended or the consideration or awarding of any Prize would impose additional administrative, tax, operational, or legal burdens on FKF.

Ineligible

• The following submissions are ineligible:
  • Images of harmed or distressed animals, other than the results of natural mortality presented within the bounds of good taste.
  • Photos that violate or infringe upon another person’s rights, including but not limited to copyright and photographs of persons without the necessary consent required by Kenya. FKF reserves the right to require entrants to submit evidence of the subject’s legal consent to be photographed for the submitted photograph, which may include a signed waiver from the subject.
  • Photos that contain sexually explicit, nude, obscene, violent or other objectionable or inappropriate content.
  • Images that involve the wilful harassment of wildlife, or damage to the environment by the photographer.
  • Images that involve putting any individual or animal in danger.
  • Images that involve any wildlife in captivity.

For more information, visit Friends of Karura Forest.