2008 calendar selling well

Corner Gas star Gabrille Miller with winner Mercy Walker. Miller was a popular co-host at the award ceremony. She explained how she used to visit her grandmother in the Downtown Eastside as a girl.

Early indications show that the 2008 Hope in Shadows calendar is selling better than last year’s successful calendar which sold out on Christmas Eve.

There are many possible reasons that might explain the increase in sales this year: sellers have new identifiable bright blue bags and caps and many people have complimented the new professional look.

The design of the calendar this year was by Jennifer Taylor Paravantes from BLU Concept designs and it is certainly making heads turn.

Corner Gas TV star Gabrielle Miller helped make the launch day a special day for winners in this year’s
Hope in Shadows award ceremony on October 11. The award cermony, normally held in the City-run Carnegie Centre, was held in a local cinema, Cinema 319, which is owned by a local film comany Infinity Features.

The winning image this year is Three Girls by Mercy Walker who won $500, while the next five received a $100 prize each. Ten third place photographers received $50 each and the next 26 photographers got $25 each for honourable mention. Everyone received an enlargement of their picture and a certificate.

As of December 5 more than 180 people had
attended official training sessions to receive a City of Vancouver license to sell the calendar on the street. The hope in shadows photography contest was first held in 2003 and in 2006 the calendar helped raise more than $50,000 in street sales went to the sellers of the calendars. The 2008 calendar sales is expected to beat that total.

Thank you retailers!
The hope in shadows calendar could not be a success on the streets if it was not for the stores that also sell the calendar. For the first few years they sold more than the street sellers – literally securing the success and survival of the project, and now they still contribute a large part of the sales.

Calendars cost $20 including tax. As well as being able to purchase the calendar on the street from a licensed vendor, you can also purchase it from the main retailers.