****************** WINNER ANNOUNCED! ********************

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER DAY!

In celebration of International Volunteer Day we launched Going Places, a photo competition for volunteers that brings VSO volunteers' work to life. Thanks so much to every one ...who entered the competition.

We’ve been bowled over by your response: we’ve had a wonderful 276 entries. They’ve come from countries all around the world, from Vanuatu to Vietnam, Ghana to Guyana. They’ve featured bikes, bananas, babies and boats; cars, camels, cows and canoes. In a word – diverse! You can see them all on here on the event page.

Last week a drab meeting room at VSO in London was temporarily transformed into a glorious gallery as the judging panel – Sarah, deputy editor of Wanderlust, photographer Ben Langdon and VSO staff Tsieske, Rory, Laura and Alex – sought out the images that had that little something extra.

Choosing a winner was hard. Discussions were heated. We got there in the end though and the winner has been announced as Paul Blackler from The Gambia.

Huge congratulations to Paul, whose shot of his Gambian family teaching the mother – Mariama - to ride a motorbike interprets ‘Going Places’ on so many levels. The family’s laughing expressions and colourful clothes make this a vibrant, fun photo that captures a truly significant moment in Mariama’s life.

Paul sums it up perfectly: ‘This is a personal journey to learn and to travel but also very few Gambian women are empowered enough to be able to own/use a motorbike. Not only does she strive to get places, it is a great advertisement to see more women going places in life.’

Paul wins a fabulous Flip Video. We can’t wait to see the memorable moments he captures with it!

To see Paul's photo and all the finalists head to http://www.vso.org.uk/news/goingplaces.asp

Our runner up was Agnieszka Kandzia from Mongolia who wins a subscription to Wanderlust magazine.

We also have eight highly commended photographs from:

Andrew Woodcock, Ethiopia
Georgina Chetwynd, Pakistan
Hayley Pert, Rwanda
Jenny Andrews, The Gambia
Alex Marples, India
Nicola Swann, Uganda
Diane Mills, Namibia
Maggie Jary, Uganda

Congratulations to everyone, and you can see all of our finalists in our online photo gallery at http://www.vso.org.uk/news/goingplaces.asp

Thank you again…

…to everyone who shared their photos with us. You’ve made this competition a huge success and we’re all set for something even bigger and better in 2010. Watch this space.

In the meantime, happy International Volunteer Day from everyone at VSO UK!

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