Strike a pose and get ready to smile…it’s time for us to announce the Best Photograph nominees for the INSP Awards 2018!

Working as a L’Itinéraire vendor has put a smile back on Antoine Dereochers’s face. Here, he looks back on his past and reflects on his experiences of living without a permanent address. He also talks about his experiences as a vendor and thanks his customers for their support and encouragement.

We’re continuing with our 2018 INSP Awards announcements, and today we’re revealing the Top 10 Entries for Best Cultural Feature.

We’re delighted to announce the first set of nominees for the INSP Awards 2018 today, and we’re kicking off with the Top 10 Entries for Best News Feature.

We received a record number of entries for the 2018 INSP Awards – with a whopping 275 submissions from 49 street papers in 27 countries.

In a piece written for the fall edition of Megaphone’s Community Journalism 101 workshop, Peter Thompson discusses his love of food. In particular, he writes about bannock – his personal favourite – and shares an anecdote about how, during his childhood, he learned how to smoke fish.

As Russia prepares this week to welcome legions of soccer fans to the country for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, editor of St Petersburg street paper Put Domoi, Arkady Tyurin, reflects on the life of a street paper in Russia, its vendors, the homeless population, and how the international tournament will affect them.

What would you do if you had lived in a country for over a decade and were then given the order to leave? For ¬Tareq Islami, this situation became a reality in late 2018 when he received a removal order from the Swiss authorities. Here, Tareq talks about the life he has built in Switzerland, and how the uncertainty of living with the threat of deportation has been lessened by the support that they have received from friends and colleagues in Basel.

No need to put out a distress call, our round-up of street paper front pages from the last month has landed.

Norma has been living in Seattle since 2010 and was introduced to Real Change by her current partner in late 2016. Here, she looks back on her life before moving to Seattle, praises the freedom that she has found by being a vendor and celebrates the resilience that has served her well since childhood.

Ahead of his imminent, but as yet unspecified, return to the court, multiple Grand Slam winning British tennis star, and recently crowned knight of the realm, Andy Murray took a break from his focused rehabilitation to talk to INSP about his experiences of street papers across the world, the transformative power of sport and triumphing over adversity.

INSP are pleased to announce Eva Bolander as the newest Ambassador to the street paper network.

“Thanks to Scarp de’ tenis, I am able to smile today,” says Marcello, who sells the magazine in Milan. Here, he talks about this past, the circumstances that led to him becoming homeless and his hope that, in the future, he will be able to repay the kindness that he received while homeless by helping others in need.

Holger (53) sells Hinz&Kunzt at the Isemarket in Hamburg Eppendorf. Here, he looks back on his earlier life, which was turned upside down in the 1980s when he worked at a shop selling stolen goods and was blackmailed by his physically abusive boss. The support of friends on the street led him to Hinz&Kunst 20 years ago; now, his life is full of hope – and love.

Olaf S died on a park bench close to St Michael’s Church, Hamburg. He was homeless and had braved sleeping out in the elements on a night when the temperature dropped below freezing. Two of his old friends, in collaboration with German street magazine Hinz&Kunzt, try to understand the circumstances of Olaf’s tragic decline.

V.W. found StreetWise after attending a homeless luncheon in 2010, during which she learned about the magazine and met other vendors. She has now been selling StreetWise for nearly three years. Here, she talks about her life as a vendor and about the sense of hope that she has regained thanks to her work.

Cologne-born Linda, a Draussenseiter vendor, was homeless for eleven years. Now, she runs her own self-help group for women on the streets and is passionately committed to ensuring that homeless women are properly supported. Here, she looks back on her life and discusses the positive legacy of her homelessness: those years endowed her with a sense of purpose that she has channelled into helping others.

Old lady Zhong, as she is known, has been a Big Issue Taiwan vendor for two years. Here, she tells her life story; from her days spent caring for her paraplegic father to her professional life and motherhood. She also reflects on the support that she has received from various benefactors throughout her life and speaks of her desire to carry out similar acts of kindness for others.

When The Big Issue Australia published their first issue, 60,000 Australians were homeless. Now, that number is almost double. New census figures released this month show that there are more than 116,000 people who don’t have a place to call home. For their latest edition, The Big Issue decided to go beyond the statistics to hear from the very people these numbers represent – their vendors. Their stories are illuminating, devastating, and hopeful, and evidence that homelessness is more than not having a place to sleep.

Boban Pajkovic has been living in Vienna for over 50 years, after moving to Austria from Serbia in 1967. Here, the talks about his work as an Augustin vendor, the kindness of a man called Mr D and the tells story of how he lost the little toe on his right foot.

April has showered us with a flow of fantastic front pages, and we’ve splattered the very best onto this month’s covers round-up!

Kralji Ulice vendor Edin first took up a pitch to sell street papers as part of his community service after having some trouble with the law. But now, he recognises that the chance to sell the magazine was a lucky opportunity to fall into.

The internationally acclaimed writer of Trainspotting, and INSP Ambassador, Irvine Welsh took time out from the worldwide press tour for his new book, Dead Men’s Trousers, to talk to INSP about homelessness, living in America and using social media to mobilise.

Readers of L’Itinéraire might not be familiar with the name Mario Alberto Reyes Zamora; however, they are more than likely to be familiar with his photography, which is regularly featured in the magazine. L’Itinéraire finds out more about Mario’s background, his work as a photographer and his recent move into subsidised housing.

American street paper The Contributor has been going for over ten years as a traditional news print publication. But, last week, the Nashville, Tennessee publication reinvented itself with a sleek new magazine format and updated design.

This month, Canadian street paper Megaphone, which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, but has stretched its patch to include Victoria, turned 10 years old. In this retrospective piece, individuals involved with the street paper, from founding members, to editors, to vendors, look back on the magazine’s decade long life so far.

John has spent the last 40 years working as a handyman all over Washington state. He has been homeless since the age of 18. Here, he talks about his family background, the challenges that he currently faces and the importance of appreciating how lucky you are.

Another month is coming to a close, meaning it’s time to reflect on the street paper covers that have been making waves amongst vendors and readers alike during March.