Canon Creative for a Cause

Canon Creative for a Cause

Canon New Zealand today launched Canon Creative for a Cause , a national campaign targeting the hundreds of New Zealand charities in desperate need of awareness and financial support.

Based on the belief that a single image can change the world, the campaign aims to inspire New Zealanders through photography with the chance to win their nominated charity $25,000 and to become one of Canon's preferred charities in 2009.

The Canon Creative for a Cause launch comes at a time when many NZ charities are facing a difficult time as the current economic climate impacts severely of the level of donations and financial support. The smaller charities are particularly feeling the effects as it appears New Zealanders maybe favouring high profile appeals, leaving smaller charities inadequately funded and struggling to survive.

Mike Johnston, Country Manager, Canon New Zealand says that through Creative for a Cause, Canon aims to raise awareness of New Zealand's charitable causes and help to make a difference to these organisations.

"Over the past few weeks we have spoken to a number of NZ charities, and what they are telling us is that in the current economic climate, the demand for charitable services is on the rise, yet due to a lack of funding and public donations, many valuable and much needed smaller charities are really struggling.

Canon Creative for a Cause is about celebrating the power of an image and providing a platform for New Zealanders to raise awareness of the causes they are most passionate about. In doing so, the campaign works to highlight the many valuable smaller charities in operation across the country that don't necessarily have a voice, but whose voices need to be heard.

One such small cause, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust NZ which supports Grandparents who are primary caregivers to grandchildren in difficult circumstances says that cash donations by the public are vitally important for smaller charities to stay afloat.

Diane Vivian spokesperson for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust NZ said, "We congratulate Canon New Zealand and the Creative for a Cause initiative to raise the awareness of smaller Charities and do something to assist the deserving, often struggling Charities that are so vital to our communities.

"The downturn has seen not for profit organisations rely on more voluntary input, but many organisations are run voluntarily already and this makes the workload very heavy. We need to think more innovatively to raise awareness of the vital work these organisations do and the need for funding to be sustainable."

Vivian believes 2009 will probably see the demise of some charities.

"We ourselves have had to tighten our belts. It appears that when things get tough the need for services like ours grow, and we are sure that is across the board, it is a real catch 22.

"We as an organisation are fully aware of how our particular members struggle and it is for that reason our services are free of charge. But practically we still have to pay the power, phone accounts and various other things involved with the basic running of a charity," concluded Vivian.

Canon is urging all New Zealanders to participate in Creative for a Cause by simply taking a photo that reflects the causes they are most passionate about, along with a 25 word description of what their photo represents and who their selected charity is, to www.canon.co.nz/creativeforacause.

New Zealanders are renowned for their passion for causes and for taking photographs. Canon Creative for a Cause will link these two passions and provide a platform to raise awareness of causes people are passionate about. Through Creative for a Cause and the power of creative imagery, Canon hopes to make a difference to the many important charities in New Zealand.

The Judging Process

Twenty four images will be selected by popular vote and editor's picks and will be reviewed by a judging panel who will then select the top five finalists.

From these top five images, one entry will be chosen based on popularity and photographic merit. Canon will then donate $25,000 to this entrant's nominated charity. In addition to the $25,000 donation, Canon will reward the winning entry and four other finalists with a Canon product prize pack.

People are encouraged to vote for their favourite images at www.canon.co.nz/creativeforacause

Key Dates
The Creative for a Cause campaign will open to entries on Thursday 28 May and close Friday 10 July.

The top 24 finalists will be announced via the website - www.canon.co.nz/creativeforacause - on Thursday 16 July, 2009.

The judging panel will review the top 24 images and announce the top five finalists via the website on Friday 31 July, 2009.

The winner will be announced on Thursday 6 August, 2009.

Canon Creative for a Cause supports the company's corporate philosophy of Kyosei which means "Living and working together for the common good". Kyosei is very much entrenched in the company's culture and is celebrated within the Canon community. The campaign also falls on the 50th anniversary of Canon single-lens reflex camera sales - more than 50 million units have been produced since 1959.

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