Standard Chartered Announces the “Capturing Timeless Visions” Nationwide Photo Competition Winners on World Sight Day

I announced the call for entries of this photo contest in my other blog last July. Time does fly very fast! 

Press Release:

To mark World Sight Day, Standard Chartered Bank, the first international bank in the Philippines since 1872, announced the nationwide winners and launched a four day photo exhibition of the ‘Capturing Timeless Visions’ photo competition. World Sight Day is celebrated annually on the second Thursday of October to raise awareness of visual impairment.

The ‘Capturing Timeless Visions’ nationwide photo competition was launched in conjunction with Standard Chartered Bank’s 140th anniversary in the Philippines. The competition took place from 9 July to 1 September and yielded thousands of captivating entries from across the nation, which aimed to capture images that depict the unique and colorful culture of the Filipinos. 

The photo competition aimed to raise funds in support of ‘Seeing is Believing’, Standard Chartered’s global initiative that helps tackle avoidable blindness. To further raise awareness about ‘Seeing is Believing’ and coinciding with World Sight Day (October 11), the original photographs were exhibited at the Shangri-La Plaza from October 11 to 14. Mall visitors were given the opportunity to submit bids for the exhibited art works or offer donations to support ‘Seeing is Believing’. The winning photos will also be showcased in Standard Chartered’s coffee table book, 140 Years in the Philippines: Capturing Timeless Visions. 

Out of the 60 finalists in the competition, there were 12 winners. The winners for the best entries in the Professional Division received Php100,000 each, while three winners in the Enthusiast Division won PhP50,000 each. Three runners-up and 20 Juror’s Choice were selected from each division as well. The donors and winners were delighted that they could contribute their photographs, to support the elimination of avoidable blindness.

Mahendra Gursahani, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, Philippines, said:  “The ‘Capturing Timeless Visions’ nationwide photo competition was launched in celebration of the Bank’s 140th anniversary. We are truly and deeply grateful to the many talented photographers who have dedicated their time and energy to producing such imaginative and exciting works and for us to auction some of the submissions for the cause of preventing blindness and restoring sight. Our ‘Capturing Timeless Visions’ initiative is an important way in which, together with the nation, we can make a huge difference to the lives of many of our fellow humans afflicted by blindness. It is harsh reality today that a person goes blind every five seconds, a child goes blind every minute and less than 10% of blind children are in schools receiving education that they deserve.”

Standard Chartered in collaboration with the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), the leading umbrella organisation for non-governmental organisations working in the field of eye-care,  ‘Seeing is Believing’ has already raised over USD50 million for blindness initiatives and plans to raise a further USD50 million by 2020. As part of the Seeing is Believing program, Standard Chartered has pledged to match all donations dollar for dollar to reach the target of USD 100 million. Standard Chartered committed US$1 million to address preventable blindness in the Philippines through our Seeing is Believing (SiB) program. The funds will be used over a three year period in partnership with CBM and Cataract Foundation of the Philippines. 

‘Seeing is Believing’ is the single largest contributor to the development of ‘Vision 2020 – The Right to Sight’, a global campaign launched by the World Health Organisation and IAPB to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020.