Volvo Ocean Race: Team SCA launches competition for female photographers

SCA, with an all-female team in the next Volvo Ocean Race, Team SCA, is to create a global competition in conjunction with Getty Images aimed at empowering more women to become professional photographers.

Working with Getty Images, one of the world’s leading media companies, the Team SCA Academy will seek to encourage, inspire and support female photographers around the world.

Announced to coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8, the Team SCA Academy will, together with Getty Images, look to engage increasing numbers of female photographers to contribute and interact with Team SCA, SCA and Getty Images, within the backdrop of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The competition will be launched on April 1, 2014 and will run through to October 1, 2014. A judging panel will then select ten female photographers to experience both SCA and the race with one winner attending each stopover during the race itself in between October 2014 and June 2015.

The final collection of images will form part of a Getty Gallery showcase event in London during the summer of 2015.

SCA announced its participation with an all-female team, Team SCA, in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015 some eighteen months ago. SCA is supporting an all-female team because, globally, about 80 percent of the retail products SCA make are purchased by women. Furthermore SCA supports women’s empowerment and their freedom to participate fully in society – socially, educationally and professionally.

Using the backdrop of SCA’s involvement in the Volvo Ocean Race, photographers will be encouraged present a portfolio of images that celebrate inspiring women from all walks of life.

To further mark this important day for women worldwide, Team SCA will be relaunching its web portal teamsca.com. The website has been designed with all users in mind across PC, tablet and smartphone. It is mobile responsive and developed to bring the story of Team SCA to life through live social feeds, engaging features and a focus on beautiful visual content. The new site hosts updated shore and sailing team profiles, a nutrition and fitness section where you can find out what it takes to race fit for the toughest ocean race in the world and train alongside the team with Team SCA’s top ten exercises and fitness tips and the latest videos from the team.

Source: Victoria Low, Communication Director, Team SCA

Background: The 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race starts October 4 and will take the fleet to 11 cities in 11 countries – Spain, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, China, New Zealand, Brazil, United States, Portugal, France and Sweden – and will require the teams to cover 38,739 nautical miles. It will be the first edition using the new one design Volvo Ocean 65 racing boats.