Director-General, UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is inviting professional photographers from all over the world to submit entries of their best photographs reporting on environmental issues and emergencies.
UNESCO is seeking photographs that showcase current environmental crises worldwide, their impacts, and effects on human lives. The photographs should depict threats to biodiversity, animals, and populations, or those that relate to investigating environmental crimes.
The call is looking for situations including illegal mining, pollution, poaching, animal trafficking, and deforestation; disasters linked to climate change and extreme weather events such as heatwaves, fires, droughts, typhoons, hurricanes, and other natural disasters; as well as food and water insecurity and effects on populations, for example: mass displacement.
It will also consider photographs depicting the safety risks that photojournalists face while reporting this issue will also be considered
The call will give priority to photos from female journalists of different ethnicities, ages and physical abilities. Regional diversity will be considered in the selection of the photos. All photos should comply with high ethical standards and treat all subjects with respect and dignity.
As per the call’s rules and regulations, the photographer will need to warrant that the work made is created by him/her; that him/her is the sole and unrestricted owner of the exclusive rights in the works, free from encumbrances, and that no third party is entitled to any intellectual property rights with regard to the work. The Contractor will also need to ensure that no third-party rights were infringed in the making of the work.
The selected photographs will help to raise awareness on the work on environmental journalists and the importance of journalism and freedom of expression in the context of the current global environmental crisis. The photographs will be used in UNESCO’s publications, awareness-raising campaigns digital and print, and global events and conferences linked to the topic, especially the upcoming World Press Freedom Day Global Conference “A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the Face of the environmental crisis” to be held in Santiago, Chile on May 2-4, 2024.
The photographs will be chosen for their artistic, creative and original content. UNESCO will establish a contract with the photographers and purchase the selected photographs, whereby non-exclusive rights for the selected photographs will be granted to UNESCO.
The deadline for submission of entries is March 31, 2024.
For more information and to enter, please visit https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/call-proposals-photographs-covering-environmental-issues-and-emergencies.
