Hope in Shadows Voting Now Open for 2026 Calendar
Voting is now open for the photos that will appear in the Hope in Shadows 2026 Calendar, presented by Megaphone Magazine. Hope in Shadows is a photography project that shares the stories of people experiencing poverty and homelessness through their own lens.
The Hope in Shadows calendar project was created by Pivot Legal Society in 2003 and gifted to Megaphone Magazine’s vendors in 2016. Each year, the project engages up to 150 Downtown Eastside community members in a photo contest. Participants are provided a theme, a single-use camera and training on how to gather consent from photo subjects, and sent out into the streets for 5 days to take images of their lives. Returned cameras are developed, resulting in up to 2,500 images for a jury of community members and staff to parse down to the Top 30.
In May, more than 100 community members and youth came out to participate in the Hope in Shadows photo contest, attending photography workshops before receiving their single-use cameras and hitting the streets.
Megaphone received over 1,500 photos for this year’s contest, which a Community Jury and Megaphone staff narrowed down to just 30 finalists. These top 30 photographs showcase this year’s theme, “Humour” and offer an intimate look into what matters most to Megaphone vendors, storytellers and peers. These images are taken to public events, community centres and posted online for community members to vote on their favourite photos.
The Top 13 finalists are published in the annual calendar. Finalists and photo subjects are honoured at our annual calendar launch event and awarded certificates, award money and copies of the image.
Starting in October, the calendar is purchased by Megaphone vendors for $10 and sold on the street for $20, with vendors keeping the profits. Every year, dozens of vendors return to Megaphone during the calendar season to sell calendars to be able to afford holiday gifts for friends and family, or to increase their income.
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Miss604’s Rebecca Bollwitt is a monthly columnist for Megaphone Magazine.
