Photographs, Stories
The Estée Lauder Pink Ribbon Photo Award was created in 2012 by the Estée Lauder Companies France, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Pink Ribbon, in homage to Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder and in order to support the actions of Le Cancer du Sein, Parlons-en !.
A pioneer in its genre and on a national scale, this competition is open to all photographers, amateurs and professionals alike. Since its first edition, several hundred contributions have been received from every region in France, around a theme defined annually: Pink Positive (2012), #SoPink (solidarity and breast cancer – 2013), Pink Energy (2014), My Battle, My Force (2015), Loving Oneself (2016), What Unites Us (2017), All Involved (2018) and Heroes (2019).
The Estée Lauder Pink Ribbon Photo Award brings together a wide public in an artistic way within the context of the national campaign against breast cancer, a campaign in which the Estée Lauder Companies France is actively involved as a founding member—with Marie Claire magazine—of the Ruban Rose Association (formerly Le Cancer du Sein, Parlons-en !).
Now a key event within its field, over the years the competition has allowed life stories to be revealed. Although they are often anonymous, they are always unique and never ordinary. It has contributed to removing certain taboos with regard to what many women, and sometimes men, experience when confronted with the disease.
Stories of families, friendship, love, reflections on the disease, unvarnished portraits, moving visual chronicles, humor… the photographic gesture here represents in and of itself a profound human engagement.
The Estée Lauder Pink Ribbon Photo Award is the bond between one person and another, heart to heart, an indestructible bond of solidarity between models and photographers, carried along by a cause that affects each and everyone of us. Its photographs, its stories, have resulted in several exhibitions, in Paris and in the provinces, during the context of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, dedicated each year, in October, to the struggle against breast cancer and to disseminating information about early breast cancer screening.
Each year, 40 photographer finalists are selected by a Jury composed of personalities united by the passion for photography and their commitment to the fight against breast cancer.
The recipients of the Jury Prize and the Téva Audience Award of this ninth edition will be announced in early November 2020.
(Due to the exceptional health context linked to Covid-19, and the report of Paris Photo in 2021, the Estée Lauder Pink Ribbon Photo Award 2020 ceremony will not take place at the Grand Palais. )
2020 Theme: “RESILIENCE”
[Resilience: noun; from the Latin verb resilire (“to rebound’ or “leap back”); the capacity to recover from difficulties; process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress.]
The story behind the 2020 theme
Once again this year, the theme of the photo contest is motivated by the lives of all these wonderful women and men who are facing the disease, but also by the life of the inspiration for this particular photo contest, Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder.
In 2003, the famous perfumer Jo Malone was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. The first person she wanted to tell was Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder.
She had absolute confidence in her, both on a professional level - her brand being one of the flagship brands of the Estée Lauder Companies since 1999 - and on a human level. Jo Malone appreciated Evelyn H. Lauder's always open and caring attitude. She was aware of Mrs Lauder's investment in the fight against breast cancer and her determination to push the research ahead, particularly through the global Breast Cancer Awareness campaign she launched in 1992, and then through the Breast Cancer Research Foundation® (BCRF) founded the following year.
"In the three years since we had joined Lauder, she had been so kind and helpful, someone who made it clear that her door was always open. But it wasn’t only our easy rapport that prompted my call. Evelyn had founded the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in 1993 and was in the vanguard of the fight to find a cure. When it comes to the one-person-you-need-to-call-first, she was the obvious friend. [...] ‘
- It’s cancer, Evelyn. It’s cancer. I think I’m going to die. I don’t know what to do . . .’ That was what ‘cancer’ meant to me – death.
- ‘You’re not going to die, Jo. We’re going to get you through this. You’ve got to stay strong. Remember, you make lemonade from lemons!’»*... In other words, a full of imagery expression for Resilience.
* From My Story, by Jo Malone - Published November1st 2016 by Simon & Schuster (first published October 13th 2015)
THE ESTÉE LAUDER PINK RIBBON PHOTO AWARD IS ONLY OPEN TO FRANCE RESIDENT PHOTOGRAPHERS
