Comm: "They came from all over the world. Six winners of an international photo competition were on the trip of a lifetime. From Brazil, from China, Canada and Germany they were travelling to the United Nations in New York City to receive their awards. Earth Report travelled to America with them.

"More than 16,000 from all around the world sent in photos to the Third United Nations Environment Programme Photographic Competition and for the third Canon sponsored it. It was almost as those people were petitioning the United Nations to pay attention to what is going on all around us.

"Sunday noon. Taiko Sito from the UN Environment Programme in Tokyo is playing mother hen. She waits patiently for the award winner to arrive at the fancy Roosevelt Hotel in the heart of mid-town Manhattan.

"First in, Hartmut Schwartzbach, the winner of the gold award. But Hartmut was not the first to hit town. Brazilian photographer Luis Veiga was so excited at winning that he came to New York early. He went straight to the UN where they were holding the Millennial Summit. But Luis wasn't interested in Clinton and Castro, he didn't even go in. He'd come to photograph the demonstrators outside."

Luis Veiga: "I thought this would be a great time to take pictures. With protesters on the streets you can take a lot of good photos."

Comm: It's a short 3-block walk from the demonstrations to the Atrium. The modern skyscraper where the award ceremonies for the photo competition will be held. There the construction workers were preparing Luis's plaque."

Luis Veiga: "The place where I took this picture was, or rather is on the coast Marinyell. It is a region of swamps and relatively well preserved, where small communities of fishermen live.

"It was the end of the afternoon during summertime. It was the right moment when 3 boys were playing jumping from the trees. But actually it was 4 boys because there is another one behind the tree, holding the other boy's leg. The boy on top of the tree has got his arms outstretched to keep his balance. The other boy is jumping at the exact moment I took the picture. That's the decisive moment of the photo. And the boy at the front is just looking, curious, wanting to know why I'm taking the picture."

Ron Roberts: "Well basically we came here to set this exhibit up but not really knowing what we were in for. But erm it was just a fantastic surprise, erm these pictures, every one of them, every one is absolutely erm something about them is erm is amazing, every one. I mean they were, the picture speak for themselves really. It's a pleasure doing this job to see all these pictures and know that they come, I think, 160 nations around the world.

"Now this, this is fun, this is wonderful I love this picture."

Comm: "Down in Greenwich Village, in the garden of Gracechurch we met a theologian, Martin Palmer. An expert on icons he co-ordinates the environmental work of most of the world's great religions."

Martin Palmer: "I just think this is a celebration of humour. There's a bicycle at the bottom on a canal, for God's sake. You know, it's nowhere. What I really love is the fact that it looks as though it's been lent up against a tree. I - this is just humour, this is humour, but the point with good humour is that good humour can often make you think about something far more profoundly then someone going you know, this is a terrible picture, this is a dreadful indictment of consumerist culture and the throw-away world. Oh sod it, this is funny."

Mark Dorshimer: "I like the little turtle there. I didn't even notice that before. I mean that's a every erm interesting picture because it's a plastic turtle in erm a natural environment and that brings across erm a good point, you know, I mean the fake think should not be out in the natural environment, in nature, you know what I mean, it should be erm you know, the real live erm environment animals and real live erm stuff out there and_"

Comm: "But the real live stuff is fast disappearing. The turtle is being hunted to extinction, mostly illegally, both for its meat and for sheer ornamentation. That's what worries the winner of the Junior Division Good Award, Miriam Curler. Meanwhile the winners continue to arrive, getting the royal treatment."

Claudio Bacinello: "Somebody met us at the airport. Mr wife travelled with me. The Roosevelt Hotel, right in the heart of downtown New York, a terrific location, you just erm you know step out the door and be in the heart of all the famous locations, Empire State Building, Rockerfeller Centre, all these sorts of things that you hear about erm in the movies."

Francis Flynn: "They say, I don't know, probably not fact but anyhow it's said that erm the Dutch West India Company bought the island from the Indians for the equivalent of $40. The New York Times moved into this area on condition that the name would be changed from Long Acre Square to Times Square. You're really looking at a triangle, you're not looking at a square, I don't know why they came up with square, well if you came here into this area 10 years ago you would not find it looking as it is today. A lot of the pornography had disappeared, it was really alive with pornography until about 8 years ago. People ask me well where did the pornography go. I said how do I know? What are you asking me for? I don't think I look the type. The price of a taxicab is a little over $200,000, they're buying their licence, the business on wheels. The beautiful flat iron building is the oldest skyscraper standing in New York, going back to the early 19 hundreds, so we can get out and take a look at that. The shape is very interesting isn't it?"

Comm: "Shun Yang looked the flat iron building. He had won the International Photographic Council's Scholarship for his picture, Lovely Little Goose. In fact it was the second time Shun has been cited for an award. 4 years earlier he had won an honourable mention with his photo, Wishing.

"More than a thousand pictures were submitted by children. All these images taken by kids won honorary mentions from the judges."

Tony Tushje: "It amazes me that the car was able to last that long for the tree to grow without rusting away. You know, she's got to be about 30 years old."

Martin Palmer: "Here is this rotting dead car, it's a tomb carved and created by us and out of it has risen this tree. There is new life and this, this is the resurrection."

Ron Roberts: "Let me show you. I'll show you behind the scenes. Everything looks kosher from the outside, but once we go inside, you've got to come around, and now you can see where all the pictures are. That is on the outside and we put all the lights on the inside bring them down and tie everything in. And I flick the switch and light [Unclear] place up."

Comm: "Night fell as the other winners arrived in the city. Tomorrow would be a busy day. The following morning excited but nervous groups began assembling in the lobby. It was a moment when they could talk about their favourite photos before going to the Atrium for a rehearsal. Chin Ki Au won the UNEP Executive Director's Special Award for his photo, Seedling.

Chin Ki Au: "I like nature. You can - erm from this picture you can besides the beautiful forms of the terrace fields you can see the peoples, they work together, they erm co-operated, they work by hand and they don't use any machine. In the morning the mist makes the, the terrace fields erm mystery and beautiful. A farmhouse , and the field You can see that the forms and also the refection of the light, it was beautiful, the reflection on the water. Erm [unclear] How then on the water field, water terraces [laugh] this picture, this farmer is ploughing at a noontime, his wife carry the food for him for the lunch. The farmers and goat are one side under the trees to-to have their lunch and also the cows have erm some recess erm they are many different colours. They are beautiful colour on [unclear] , brown, blue, green, gold and silver. "Going Home After Work". This is a farmer homeward bound."

Chin Ki Au: "Every picture you can see the environment is very clean, no pollution. After the sun set, the moonlight makes it silver. The moon come over the hill top and this the reflection of the moon."

Comm: "10 o'clock. The prizewinners are on their way to the Atrium. Ron Roberts and his crew are already there, putting the finishing touches to the exhibition."

Josh Edwards: "This one over here too. Here you have a nice patio pool and it looks like a decent place to be, stay, live and then right behind it, you have, the total opposite of erm the scenery is just horrendous. Oil and dirt and filth."

Comm: "One of the judges of the UN Photo Competition was Robert Lamb. His role was to bring expertise on the environment to the judging panel."

Robert Lamb: "In the front you've got this amazing swimming pool, great luxury and at the back the filthiest bay you can possibly image, full of, I don't know, excrement and rubbish coming from high rise apartments in the shanty towns at the back. In one photo this photographer has encapsulated the erm real problems with the environment which is people aspiring to erm a luxurious lifestyle that the world can't sustain."

Ron Roberts: "Me, him and a couple of our friends, we all go riding, we'll do that stuff at night."

Exhibition constructor: "That's a once in a lifetime shot. If it was a person it wouldn't have been a big deal but, with a polar bear I think it looks beautiful. Now I've got to go back to work."

Announcer: "At 5 o'clock everybody has to be back in their seats. The IPC Scholarship Award will be..."

Comm: "Now it's time to rehearse the award ceremony."

Announcer : "_who took Lovely Little Goose. Mr Wong, please come up to the stage and then escort, one of you, do you want to do that [overtalking] [clapping] The other Gold Division Prize will also be presented by Mr Clouts. You shall we practice OK? OK."

Hartmut Schwartzbach: "Yeah OK. Erm I'm a professional photographer, a photo-journalist from Hamburg since erm working with the subject since 20 years. So these photos have a story erm which is 15 years erm old because I was in the Philippines erm 15 years taking photos on a garbage hill which is called the Smoking Mountain which is the biggest garbage site at that time in-in Asia maybe."

Comm: "7,000 tons of rubbish pours out of Manila every day. Tens of thousands of people are scavenging for a living on the garbage heaps. Deena is 20, She made her hone here after losing her job in a factory and she was pregnant. Earning less than a dollar a day water becomes a luxury item. Although relatively few Philippinnos live like this Hartmut Schwartzbach found yet more scavengers in a water front slum, recycling rubbish."

Hartmut Schwartzbach: "So I went down to a water slum erm where erm people were preparing their breakfast and erm cooking rice, so erm and then I walked to the water front and erm I saw these kids floating on these styrofoams gathering garbage."

Robert Lamb: "It works for me erm as an environment statement, erm young children are actually recycling erm who the photographer told us that they couldn't actually swim so they endanger their lives every time they go in to collect the rubbish that they can then sell,. Erm it's polluted water erm it looks hopeless but in both of their eyes is not defeat. They haven't lost hope and while they haven't lost hope, neither should we."

Taiko Sito: "Mr Schwartzbach is going to get this one. This is very, very heavy, I don't think I could carry it around but he can I think."

Comm: "5 o'clock the prizes are prepared. It's the chance for the prize givers to view the photographs before the ceremony begins.

Male in group: "It's bigger."

Fujio Mitari: "Oh it's bigger. Oh, it's bigger. Very, very nice picture. I see."

Tore Brevik: "This is taken with the, the erm with a digital camera, the new technology but still it's the eye on the photographer. And you have this mist over the, over the photograph, the colour, you still can put our dreams into it and you can continue working on this photograph long after you have seen it. Erm travelling together, animal and man side by side. It's a wonderful photo."

Martin Palmer: "These aren't photographs by accident, these aren't just people thought oh, that looks nice, they actually saw something there that transcended the specific and makes these picture not just a pretty picture of a whale but a mystery. Not just a picture of children but a profound challenge. So if you like they are doorways into the soul, they are windows into the indescribable and we have to have those because as human beings we can only conceive through the images that are familiar to us and what, what these astonishing pictures do is to create a new iconography, an iconography that is not specific in it's religious imagery but it so universal that anybody with a profound spiritual understanding can look at these and experience the same sense of a window opening into understanding, a moment of touching a mystery that you get with the greatest of art."