News

A photo of two children laughing on the beach in Bougainville has taken top spot in the People’s Choice awards for our 50th anniversary photo exhibition, Windows to Another World.

First place in the People's Choice competition.

The photo was taken by VSA’s International programme manager Peter Swain during a visit to Pidia Village in 2007. The village is one of the main locations for the movie Mr Pip, which premiered to a standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival last week.

Pidia Village is also where VSA’s Bougainville-based volunteers go to experience village life.

“The children in the photo are from one of the families the volunteers stay with. I met them again on a recent trip – they’re a little bit older now. Their grandmother is a longtime friend of VSA, and she also plays Miss Havisham in Mr Pip.”

Second place (Layne Stevenson).

Second place went to the exhibition publicity shot of Duk Duks – members of a secret society based in the Rabaul area in Papua New Guinea – making their way through forest covered with ash from the nearby Tavurvur volcano. The photo was taken by Layne Stevenson.

Another Peter Swain photo took third place in the People’s Choice. It is of pre-schoolers in Luganville enthusiastically miming the actions to the popular children’s song “Galoomp goes the little green frog”.

Almost 1000 people cast votes for the People’s Choice when the exhibition toured to  four cities during June and July.

The exhibition can now be viewed online on Pinterest.

Top left: Third place (Peter Swain)
Top right: Fourth place (Rob Joiner)
Bottom left: Equal fifth place (Anne-Maree Schwarz)
Bottom right: Equal fifth place (Richard Clark)