The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has launched a photographic competition highlighting the role of the potato as a source of food, employment and income in developing countries.
The world photography contest is being held in conjunction with the UN's International Year of the Potato.
The contest has separate categories for professional and amateur photographers, and will accept single digital images or "photo stories" of four to eight related images, in either black and white or color. Participants can submit their digital files by uploading them directly via Internet or sending them by mail on a CD-ROM.
The contest is sponsored by Nikon.
The winning photographs will be chosen by a selection panel that includes some of the world's leading professionals in the field of photography. Winners in the professional and amateur categories will be awarded cash prizes totaling 7,200 euros (US$11,137) as well as Nikon cameras.
The deadline for entries is Sept. 1, 2008.
The FAO wants photographers to capture the spirit of the International Year in images that illustrate potato biodiversity, cultivation, processing, trade, marketing, consumption and utilization.
"Potato is the world's number four food crop, after rice, wheat and maize, with annual production of more than 300 million tonnes," FAO international year coordinator NeBambi Lutaladio says. "It is grown in more than 100 countries, from the Andes and China's Yunnan plateau to the subtropical lowlands of India, on the plains of northern Europe and the steppes of the Ukraine. Photographers who explore the world of the potato will find plenty of subject matter."