The contest "longevity: the positive sum of life" or vitality through a camera

The photo competition organised by the General Foundation of the University of Salamanca, as part of the Programme for a Long-lived Society of the International Centre on Ageing (CENIE), in a year full of uniqueness, has been a great success in terms of participation. 572 photographers presented a total of 2,472 works from 65 countries. The competition, entitled 'Longevity: the positive sum of life', includes eight prizes between 1,250 and 5,000 euros that will be decided by a jury of prestigious professionals in the field of photographic art. 

The photo competition 'Longevity: the positive sum of life' is a positive contribution to cultural change, promoted by the International Centre on Ageing (CENIE), which aims to be a response to this phenomenon that is changing the world in which we live. It is time to change the attitude towards ageing and to promote a cultural change. In this way we can help people to live longer, active and independent lives, and also help our societies to take advantage of the opportunities inherent in a new social reality. 

The Programme for a Long-lived Society is based on the need to encourage, support and implement studies, research, scientific discoveries and technological advances that contribute to defining longevity as a healthy and rewarding life stage, both for individuals and for the society to which they belong. In this way, being long-lived becomes a promising horizon full of possibilities, a true engine of growth and a continuous factor of improvement in our social relationship and culture. 

The Iranian photographer AmirMahdi Najafloo Shahpar, is the author of this work and one of the participants in the CENIE competition

Longevity should never be merely equivalent to retirement, let alone inaction, lack of participation, lack of utility or productivity - understood not only from the economic point of view - but should be seen as the privileged moment in life when what has already been learned becomes true individual and social capital, transferable to the community as a whole. And at the base of new and continuous learning. 

Being long-lived is a way of being and being in a world happily integrated by people who value and appreciate their existential baggage as a valuable heritage, but who, at the same time, continue to be moved by projects, by the essential vitality of illusion, by ideas of renewal. In short, for the legitimate aspiration to a better life for themselves and for others. 

The Programme for a Long-lived Society is an initiative approved (0551_PSL_6_E) in the INTERREG V-A Cooperation Programme, Spain-Portugal, (POCTEP), 2014-2020, financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). 

More information: https://cenie.eu/en/photography-contest