Bob CollinsThis is the “of the year” time of the year, a time for newsies to dredge up stuff that’s old and present it as new. We’ll have stories of the year, quotes of the year, people of the year, grinch of the year, songs of the year, and idiot of the year.
UNICEF, the United Nations organization, has already jumped the route with the picture of the year. It comes from freelance photographer Stephanie Sinclair.
“The groom, Mohammed, looks much older than his 40 years. The bride, Ghulam, is still a child; she just turned 11. ‘The UNICEF Photo of the Year 2007 raises awareness about a worldwide problem. Millions of girls are married while they are still under age. Most of these child brides are forever denied a self-determined life,’ says UNICEF Patroness Eva Luise Köhler at the award ceremony in Berlin. According to UNICEF, there are about 60 million young women worldwide who were married before they came of age, half of them in South Asia.”
The second and third place pictures (see link above) are equally disturbing. “Favorite” is the wrong word choice here, so let’s just say the photograph of a child celebrating atop a red sofa in the darkness of a garbage dump is the type of image that can keep a good person up at night.
