Home. It’s much more than a physical space. It’s the setting where a large part of our lives unfold. There, we raise our children, gather with friends, celebrate traditions and build memories. Home also provides comfort and refuge from life’s storms — be they actual, emotional or spiritual.

To celebrate the special places we call home, PhotoPhilanthropy — a nonprofit organization that highlights critical social and environmental issues through the power of pictures — and Southwire Company are presenting a photography exhibit and contest entitled Building Hope, Building Home.

The exhibit features the work of talented and insightful photographers who use cameras to highlight creative solutions for the homeless or orphaned, global health issues and women’s empowerment. Their images capture the resiliency of the human spirit, while celebrating powerful efforts of people working to provide homes — in all senses — for each other.

“The people of Southwire recognize the importance of home. We have helped deliver power to homes around the world for more than 60 years,” said company spokesman Gary Leftwich. “As we partner with West Georgia Habitat for Humanity to assist a local family, we also want to raise awareness of the pride, hope and security a home provides and that many of us take for granted.”

Building Hope, Building Home will be open for public viewing from May 1-14 in the Roush Gallery at the Carrollton Cultural Arts Center. The exhibit will then move to Southwire’s corporate campus, where it will be displayed for three weeks for employees, customers and vendors to view.

In addition, Southwire’s Project GIFT team will partner with West Georgia Habitat for Humanity to raise money and build a home in the west Georgia area. The company is sponsoring a community photo contest to draw awareness to that effort. Local photographers are encouraged to submit entries that capture the spirit and security that a home provides.

Prizes will be awarded to first, second and third-place entries in the following age categories — 11 and under, 12-17 years of age and 18 and older. In addition, an overall grand prize winner will receive $500. Southwire employees and their immediate family members are not eligible to participate in the contest. The company is sponsoring a separate contest for employees.

Entries should be at least 300 dpi jpeg or tiff files and file sizes should be a minimum of 3 megabytes and a maximum of 20 megabytes. Entries will only be accepted electronically and should be uploaded at the contest website at www.southwire.com/buildinghope. Contestants are strongly encouraged to read the official contest rules, which are available at the website.

For more information contact Leftwich at 770-832-4884 or by email at gary.leftwich@southwire.com.