Since 2009, the Dysautonomia Center has hosted an annual photography competition to set the challenge for people with familial dysautonomia to tell the story of how it feels to live with this rare genetic disease. This year, we decided to expand the annual World Through My Eyes photography competition to be inclusive of other talents.

People living with FD are different from each other, just like all people are, and are uniquely gifted. It’s time to shine and showcase your brand of creativity to the world.  This year we will be accepting submissions into 3 categories, so there will be three first prizes.

There will be one winner in each of the following categories: photography, painting and drawing, and poetry.

We only ask that all submissions follow this theme:

“This is My Story”

Your submission must in some way express yourself, tell us who you are and what it feels like to be you. There is no right or wrong. This is your story and your voice.

Submit your one-of-a-kind art for a chance to win. All winners will receive $50, an award ribbon to display in your home next to your masterpiece, and a t-shirt to commemorate the experience. All submissions will have a chance to be displayed on the Dysautonomia Center website following the competition at the artist’s discretion.

Judges:

A panel of professional artists will determine the winners of each category, who will then be announced on FD Day 2021

The rules of the competition are as follows:

1. Participants must have familial dysautonomia.
2. Submissions must be current creations, new or made in 2020-2021.
3. All work must be original.
4. All submissions may be submitted electronically, but must be in high resolution. Grainy images hinder the judges’ ability to appreciate the art-piece and could unfairly diminish your chances of winning and showing how talented you are.
5. Paintings and drawings can be submitted by taking 2 high resolution photos of the artwork, one centered on the work, and one from a small distance to show scale. Alternately, if the painting or drawing is on a flat piece of paper and fits on a scanner then it can be scanned in.
6. Photo-altering software such as Adobe Photoshop may be used on photography submissions and can be a part of the creative process, but photos of paintings and drawings should be unaltered in their digital form so we encourage them to be photographed in a well-let room with indirect day light. 
7. Poetry submissions can be either handwritten then scanned, or typed. And remember that poems do not have to rhyme. All forms are accepted.
8. All submissions must be titled! This is part of the creative process and can lend meaning to the artwork!

Please send submissions no later than May 14^th 2021 to nyudysautonomiacenter@nyulangone.org.

We cannot wait to hear Your Story!