Social Justice Photography Competition

The Social Justice Photography Competition 2021 is now closed

Many thanks to everyone who submitted photos, we had over 100 entries making it a record breaking year. See the shortlisted photos below.

Enter our Social Justice Photography Competition to raise awareness of an issue that's important to you.

Winners were announced at the Volunteer of the Year Awards.

Grand Prize: 'Left Behind' by Lynda Odoh, School of Health Sciences Where we grow, live, work and age are building blocks in our health experiences. We cannot tell COVID-19 lockdown tales without sharing the experiences of those left behind in the digital divide. This image portrays a chronically ill woman in an underserved community holding an empty drug container, starring helplessly though the window of her isolated room with no way to get a refill. In some parts of the world, this was as easy as tapping a mobile app. I hope this image draws attention to the need for digital inclusiveness in our health systems. Leave no one behind!

2nd Place: 'Prisoner of conscience' by Matvey Godunov, School of Social Sciences he protests of the current year in Russia were the support act of the bravest man I have ever seen, Alexei Navalny. They tried to poison him, but he turned out to be stronger. He decided to come back to Russia after rehabilitation and was imprisoned. Hundreds of thousands of people have started to fight for freedom against tyranny and dictatorship. In this photograph you can see inscriptions on concrete columns: “Putin is a thief”, “We want change”, “Free Navalny” and many others. And two policemen from the special department who serve the political corruption instead of serving people.

3rd Place: 'Lonely Old Man' by Xiaojing Huang, School of Social Sciences This photograph was taken on a trip to Hunan Province, China, where I discovered an odd phenomenon - almost exclusively elderly people live here. Left-behind children have long been a concern in China as a vulnerable group. In rural China, more than half of the young people leave their children behind and flock to the cities to work, while their children will spend their childhood without their parents. This phenomenon has improved today, in contrast to the loneliness of the elderly left behind, which is often overlooked. Life is particularly difficult for these elderly people left behind in the countryside, who are often burdened with heavy physical labour and the responsibility of raising and educating their grandchildren, and even encounter rejection. "My only thought now is to weave more bamboo baskets for money while I still have the strength, and then buy a good coffin for myself", Grandpa Chen (my subject) told me.

Runner Up: 'FRACK OFF!' by Archie Richards, School of Natural Sciences. This photo, taken in September 2019 at Bristol’s Youth Strike 4 Climate, really represents the passion that many of my peers feel about climate change. We are angry, frustrated and scared that significant system change will not be enacted fast enough to save our futures and the futures of our children. The face masks worn in this picture (6 months before lockdown started) were to represent the 300 people that die from air pollution in Bristol every year but have an ominous feel to them now, in the age of COVID.