Snap out of funk with a Mandela Day photo
CELEBRITIES are rallying behind a Mandela Day public photo competition celebrating the positive, inspiring aspects of life in South Africa.
The online competition, One Day In Time #ODIT2016, launched on May 1. People can upload images of anything inspiring to www.oneday intime.net, where daily winners will be selected.
These winners are shortlisted for entry into the final competition on Mandela Day, July 18.
The prize is a digital book of the photographs.
The photographs will also be published as a coffee-table book.
Author Chris Page said his idea had been sparked by recent news headlines.
“There has been so much negative news lately and it’s depressing, so I thought we needed something positive and uplifting to make us feel good,” he said.
“When people start focusing on the positive, you can touch someone’s life.”
The link to Mandela came as a result of the positive change that he represented, said Page.
“A lot of positive things happen on Mandela Day, so I thought that it would be a good way to give the initiative some weight. He [Mandela] would have wanted nothing else but being positive and focusing on happiness.”
Local celebrities including Miss South Africa Ntandoyenkosi Kunene, Mr South Africa Armand du Plessis, Carte Blanche presenter Derek Watts, Mandela’s former assistant Zelda la Grange and TV personalities Clive Maistry and Mishka Patel are among the judges.
Maistry said authenticity in the pictures was crucial.
“Originality will be key — something that will capture the essence of how you see our colourful nation”, he said.
Pasella presenter Patel said she was hoping to see “happy faces and big, shiny and happy eyes”.