Chairman-in-Office

VIENNA, 19 March 2008 - The deadline for submitting photographs for the 2008 photo contest under the theme "Waterways of life", announced by the Finnish OSCE Chairmanship, will expire 1 April.

The main prize for a single photo (or series) will be a Nokia multimedia computer with camera. Several runners-up will receive cash prizes of Euro 500 each.

Entry forms and rules for the photo contest are available on this page or can be downloaded from: http://www.osce.org/item/29511.html

There is no entrance fee, and the contest is open to all photographers, professional and amateur, living and working in the OSCE region.

The photographs should reflect on security and/or environment in waterways in one of the 56 OSCE participating States and should have been taken during or after the year 2000.

OSCE staff members are not eligible to participate in the contest.

Both single images and series (not more than 8 photographs per series) can be entered.

The judging will take place in April, and the winner will be announced during the 16th OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum to be held from 19 to 21 May in Prague, where an exhibition of the winning images will be displayed.

The focus of the 2008 OSCE Economic and Environmental Forum is "Maritime and inland waterways co-operation in the OSCE area: increasing security and protecting the environment."