Rotary Club Brings World Press Photo Exhibition Back to Auckland

The Rotary Club of Auckland bought the internationally -renowned World Press Photo Exhibition back to New Zealand for the fourth consecutive year. The exhibition, which ran from 6 – 28 July, featured the best images from over 100,000 entries of photographers around the world. The prize-winning photographs are assembled into a travelling exhibition that is viewed by over a million people in 40 countries.

The event has become part of the Club’s annual fundraising activities with proceeds going to the Rotary Foundation. Club President, Craig Dealey says, “The exhibition is a fundraising initiative that fits with Rotary International’s values around health, education, poverty and harmony, with one of the Club’s guiding principles being the advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace.”

“The exhibition itself gives New Zealanders the chance to see the calibre of photography from the world stage and serves as a vivid reminder of how precious the relative peace and prosperity we get to enjoy in New Zealand really is,” Dealey says. This year, 5,666 photographers from 124 nationalities submitted 103,481 photographs into the competition. An international jury of 21 photography professionals judged the exhibition, which has been running for 56 years.

The winning picture shot by photojournalist Paul Hansen from the daily Swedish newspaper The Daegens Nyheter, shows a group of men carrying the bodies of two dead children through a street in Gaza City.

The exhibition had around 9,500 visitors again this year and provided great profiling for Rotary. The Club also held its changeover function at the exhibition, which included invitations to prospective members through its Rotary young Professionals initiative. This has resulted in at least one new member being inducted along with others who are keen to find out more about Rotary.

Web: www.rotary.co.nz

“Building a Foundation “ – People & Relationships, Starting with you

The Rotary Club of Auckland had the opportunity of organising RYLA 2013 for District 9920 and it was once again centred on Willow Park at Eastern Beach in Auckland, plus Motutapu and Rangitoto Islands, during the period 29^th June to 6^th July 2913.

A District RYLA Mini Assembly was held in November 2012 and Clubs were provided with a complete ‘Information Guide’ and after working closely with RYLA Club coordinators a total of 118 Awardees participated, supported from 23 Auckland-based Rotary Clubs, including 4 Awardees from Fiji and 1 from the Cook Island under the ROTA PACIFIC scheme.

RYLA 2013 was an-eight day residential programme involving Leadership Themes of “Building a Foundation “ – People & Relationships, Starting with you, Getting Inspired ; all over 3 days.  Next it was “Leadership in Practice” – Commercial Perspectives, Managing Teams, Working under Pressure. This section included a two-day Island Experience on Motutapu and Rangitoto Islands which was once again expertly managed by the NZ Army under the control of Lt Col Jon Atkinson with the Rotary Club of Auckland providing all the logistical support. The Awardees in teams were able to test their leadership skills during a non-stop 26 hour period under difficult conditions with ample support of NZ Army Officers. This once again proved a unique and challenging experience and a highlight for many Awardees.

The final two days incorporated further “Leadership in Practice” – In the Community, where Awardees went to three different Community Projects and got physically involved in practical projects to make a difference. The final night featured a Graduation Dinner at Willow Park which 280 people attended including the Prime Minister Rt Hon John Key, DG Willard Martin, the NZ Army Officers  involved  and Rotarians from the Rotary Clubs sponsoring Awardees.

Rotaract took the opportunity to showcase their activities on the final morning and a feedback session produced valuable information with which to improve future RYLA programmes.

Overall the feedback was extremely positive which reflected the huge effort put into the organisation of the 2013 event by Rotary Club of Auckland members supported by other District Rotarians. We all gained enormous satisfaction and proved once again how valuable RYLA is in developing leadership skills in our talented young people.

Jim Johnston

Chair RYLA 2013 Operating Committee

Past President, Rotary Club of Auckland Inc