Canon Australia has launched Canon Creative for a Cause, a national campaign targeting the thousands of Australian charities in desperate need of awareness and financial support.

Based on the belief that a single image can change the world, the campaign aims to inspire Australians through photography for the chance to win their nominated charity $60,000 and to become one of Canon's preferred charities in 2009.

The Canon Creative for a Cause launch coincides with the release of Canon's Charitable Giving Survey which suggests that despite being a nation of charitable people, Australians are shunning smaller causes in favour of high profile appeals, leaving our smaller charities inadequately funded and struggling to survive.

The survey found that large charities are receiving on average 34 times the amount of funding through donations than smaller charities each year. This translates on average to $5.6 million for the larger charities compared with just $164,000 for the smaller, lesser-know charities.

Creative for a Cause is about celebrating the power of an image and providing a platform for Australians to raise awareness of the causes they are most passionate about. Creative for a Cause also works to highlight the many valuable, but lesser known charities in operation across the country that don't necessarily have a high profile but whose voices need to be heard.

One important charity Redkite, that supports children, young people and their families through cancer by providing emotional support, financial assistance and educational services, says that cash donations by the public are vitally important at this time as they receive no government funding.

Canon is urging all Australians to participate in Creative for a Cause by simply taking a photo that reflects the causes they are most passionate about, along with a 25 word description of what their photo represents and who their selected charity is, and uploading it to www.canon.com.au/creativeforacause.

The Judging Process:
Twenty four images will be selected by popular vote and editor's picks and will be reviewed by a judging panel who will then select the top five finalists. From these top five images, one entry will be chosen based on popularity and photographic merit. Canon will then donate $60,000 to this entrant's nominated charity. In addition to the $60,000 donation, Canon will reward the winning entry and four other finalists with a Canon product prize pack.

People are encouraged to vote for their favourite images at www.canon.com.au/creativeforacause