Winners announced for annual photo contest highlighting global poverty

October 27, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. EDT

There are 2 billion people around the world who lack access to formal financial services. Over the past decade, the annual CGAP Photo Contest has sought to document the struggles and successes of those who are often excluded from the financial system.

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Said Greta Bull, CEO of CGAP: “The Photo Contest enables us to show in a very visual way the resilience and challenges facing the working poor. It puts a face on financial inclusion and the work we do.” The 2015 CGAP Photo Contest invited submissions in four key areas that are instrumental to advancing financial inclusion: Digital financial services and mobile banking; women’s use of financial services; microfinance for small business enterprises; and smallholder farmers and their families.

The winning photo, called “Paddy Cultivation” by India’s Sujan Sarkar was chosen from more than 3,300 entries from 77 countries for its breathtaking composition and immersive quality. Second place went to Liming Cao, of China, for his stunning photo “Fishing with a Net,” and third place to Pranab Basak, from India, for “Hands for Freedom.”

Winners were chosen by a panel of judges that included Associate Director at Human Rights Watch and award-winning photographer, Corinne Dufka; Director of Photography Program and Associate Professor at American University, Leena Jayaswal, and Photo Editor for The Washington Post’s photography blog, In Sight, Nicole Crowder.

On what stood out to her most among this year’s winners, Jayaswal said, was “how the photographers understood their subjects and knew when to release the shutter. These photographs evoked emotions, from strength, to humor, to love.”