The Contest
Photographs, Stories
Photographs, Stories
Estée Lauder Companies Pink Ribbon Photo Award 2022
The Estée Lauder Companies 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 the Ruban Rose organization.
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), Heroes (2019), Resilience (2020), Gratitude (2021).
The Estée Lauder Companies 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.
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 Companies 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 eleventh edition will be announced during an exceptional awards ceremony that will take place during Paris Photo (November 10-13, 2022), a partner of the competition for the sixth consecutive year.
2022 THEME
2022 Theme: “AN EYE FOR BEAUTY”
30 years ago Mrs Evelyn H. Lauder co-created the pink ribbon*, which soon became a global symbol in the fight against breast cancer.
20 years ago, was published "An Eye for Beauty", her second and ultimate book of photographs.
10 years ago, was launched the first edition of this committed photo competition!
Mrs. Evelyn H. Lauder's passion for photography matched in many ways her commitment and contribution to the fight against the disease, whether through the international breast cancer awareness campaign she initiated, the creation in 1993 of her foundation - the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) - with, among other things, the sale of her photographs in support of research, or the donation of her photographs to the special breast cancer centre at Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Cancer Center in New York, which she began to fund in 1989 and which now bears her name: Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center.
In line with this involvement, 10 years ago, The Estée Lauder Companies France launched the first edition of this photo competition, in order to pay tribute to Mrs Lauder, who passed away a few months earlier, in November 2011, and to support the actions of the French non-profit organization, Ruban Rose.
- In 2022, in this significant year of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Pink Ribbon, it seemed essential to us to return to the origin, the vision and the spirit of our mentor by choosing "An Eye for Beauty" as the theme of this new edition.
"The implicit themes of Lauder's photographs - optimism and nature's capacity for healing and renewal - are also those of her intense dedication to breast cancer research" writes the book's editor.
"An Eye for Beauty" goes far beyond any convention of beauty. It is a profound look at life, free of stereotypes. In her introduction to her friend's book, Amy Spindler - then editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine - sums it up: " Photos like Evelyn's are beauty as the salve for suffering".
* With Alexandra Penney, Editor at Self Magazine
If it questions the (often) enforced codes of beauty and more specifically regarding breast cancer, the theme of the 11th edition of the Estée Lauder Companies Pink Ribbon Photo Award wants to evoke gentleness, optimism, a determined and benevolent gaze on oneself, about the road travelled and the one to come, about those moments and encounters that allow one to calm down, about nature and the environment to renew oneself, about coming back to oneself with kindness, about (re)finding the essential to move forward with even more hope and determination.
Some inspirational quotes:
- “My goal there was to give the reader the chance to commune with nature, to use my photographs to calm anxiety, to fond balance and harmony in the ever-changing always present landscape.” ~ Evelyn H. Lauder, about "An Eye for Beauty", 2002
- “An Eye for Beauty isn’t just about seeing beauty, relationships, and light. It is intended to give us insight into our lives, past, present, and maybe our future.” ~ Evelyn H. Lauder, about "An Eye for Beauty", 2002
- “My motivation, always, is to reveal something that one might not otherwise see.” ~ Evelyn H. Lauder
- “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder“ ~ Oscar Wilde
- “No outward grace is complete unless inner beauty enlivens it. The beauty of the soul spreads like a mysterious light over the beauty of the body“ ~ Victor Hugo
- "Photography helps people to see." ~ Berenice Abbott
THE ESTÉE LAUDER COMPANIES PINK RIBBON PHOTO AWARD WAS OPEN TO FRANCE RESIDENT PHOTOGRAPHERS, FROM MAY 30 TO AUGUST, 20 2022.
Finalists will be announced on October 1st!
