1950s snapshot wins historical photo competition

10 November 2008

Judges have unanimously selected a winner of the Libraries Heritage Week photo competition, saying the image “encapsulated the spirit of the 1950s and portrayed a moment in social history.”

The photo, entitled “Majestic Dance Band,” was also awarded the 1950s decade section of the competition, winning its submitter, Merle Conaghan, a Sony digital camera, Christchurch Central Library’s Aotearoa New Zealand Centre Team Leader Annette Williams says.

The photo competition was part of Heritage Week 2008, themed “Retrospective: Christchurch Life, Architecture and Design 1940s-70s.”

The photo competition aimed to reveal Christchurch’s post-war history through seven categories – fashion, transport, buildings and streets, sport and recreation, occupations, events, and everyday life.

All 125 entries are displayed on the libraries’ online photo album.

Ms Williams says the other decade winners were:

• 1940s: “North Beach Home Guard” submitted by Margaret Hubert.
• 1960s: “First Flight” submitted by Alan Tunnicliffe.
• 1970s: “North East Energy Group – ‘Wrong’ Sign” submitted by Keiran McNabb.

Each decade winner was awarded a $50 voucher for Ken’s Video and Camera.

Several highly commended entries won USB memory sticks.

“Judges looked for photos that captured a sense of the period and had a story to tell,” Ms Williams says.

“A story that may be nostalgic for someone who lived through the decade, or a story that could intrigue or entertain someone who didn’t.”