Rittersporn auf der Insel Film (Foto: Ines Wittig)

We are looking for the most beautiful photos of the Elbe and its tributaries.

The Elbe’s disitinct natural and cultural habitat is the element that connects us in the “Youth-4-Elbe” project.

Its meadows render the Elbe one of the most interesting habitats from an ecological point of view: two opposed areas of life meet here, water and land. The forces of water shape the landscape: parts of the riverbanks are moved, sand and gravel banks dislocated, back waters cut off and dead wood accumulated. Furthermore, the Elbe and its tributaries are endangered because of the multitude of competing human interests: intensive agriculture, discharge of poisonous sewage waters from industries and mining, mining of gravel and sand and extensive tourism and recreation strain the Elbe’s ecosystem.

Because the Elbe and its tributaries constantly change their face, we ask you to go on “photo safari” at “your” rivers. Have a closer look and record which characteristics and secrets your rivers hold.

We are looking for the most beautiful and meaningful photos of the Elbe and its tributaries.

There will be many attractive prices to win:  a canoe trip, a digital camera, books, magazine subscriptions, etc..

The best photos will be published on the website of the project (www.youth-4-elbe.org) and in DUHwelt. Later on, we will print a wall calendar for 2012 with the best pictures.

Entry rules:

• Eligible for participation are all pupils of the schools being part of the German-Czech exchange project “Youth-4-Elbe”.
• Individual and group entries are evaluated by an independent jury. The jury’s decisions are not appealable.
• Each group may submit up to 10 photos, each individual up to 2 photos.
• Please send your digital pictures or scans of slides with a resolution of max. 8.37 megapixels.
• The title of the digital files must include the name of the school, the author’s name, the name of the river and river stretch, and the number of the picture (1-10) (e.g. SchoolA_MaxMueller_Elbe_Eiche_1.jpg).
• Please send your entries via e-mail to lebendigeelbe@duh.de.
• The deadline for entries is 29th May 2011!

In case of any question, please contact:
Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., Ines Wittig, Projektleiterin Youth-4-Elbe, Poststr. 7, D-06366 Köthen, Tel.: +49 3496 210009, Fax: +49 3496 210008, mobile: 0160 532 1053; E-Mail: lebendigeelbe@duh.de