2019 Winners & Shortlists

Cultural/Context information for the jury.

In the Indian subcontinent, forced dowry is a practice in which the groom's family coerces the bride's family to pay the groom in material goods. Failure to match this expectation frequently results thousands of brides being victimised through domestic violence and in many cases, even leading to death through murder or suicide. To call dowry-demanding men out, we decided to hit them where it would hurt most: their male ego and sense of self-respect. We coined a new word for the act of demanding dowry, "Jahezkhori"; which compares in English to an abusive phrase such as "Dowrymongering." We then used one of the most recognised symbols of marriages in the country to disseminate the message: hands decorated with henna. We designed a special typographic treatment embedded in a pattern commonly used by henna artists, which through a highly integrated campaign became the rallying cry for our message: "Stop Dowrymongering.”