Photojournalists from over 95 nations and all continents have received awards since 2000. In individual photos or in photo series, they document the living conditions of children and young people who have to live in the most challenging conditions: in war, in material or emotional hardship, in the wake of natural disasters. However, they also show moments of happiness, joy, and different facets of the everyday lives of children from all over the world. To be eligible for this contest, the photos must be recommended by internationally renowned photography experts.

The winner of the UNICEF Photo of the Year award is selected by an independent jury chaired by Peter-Matthias Gaede, member of the German Committee for UNICEF and long-standing editor-in-chief of GEO magazine.

The nominating photography experts include representatives of news agencies such as epa (European Pressphoto Agency), dpa (German Press Agency) as well as outstanding photo agencies such as VII Foundation, laif, Agence VU and others like Middle East Images. They also include experts from renowned universities for photography such as the Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts or the Danish School of Photojournalism, as well as internationally renowned photographers, such as the photographer and winner of an Emmy Award, Patrick Brown.

Among the nominating experts are also Photo Editors Mojtaba Abdoulrahimkhan, Laura Boushnak, Eyal Warshawsky, Maria Mann as well as Anahit Hayrapetyan, Tasneem Al sultan, Markus Seewald and Angela Rupprecht. All of them have international expertise and a high awareness of ethical standards in photojournalism and documentary photography. With their contacts to globally active photographers, they also stand for the promotion and development of the highest quality in international photojournalism. We would like to thank all of them for their commitment.

As a partner of the competition, Epson Germany prints the images for the “UNICEF Photo of the Year” exhibition at the Federal Press Conference Center in high quality. The photo reports are then exhibited again by the Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt-Haus e.V. and also shown at the Schleswig Museum.

The UNICEF Photo of the Year exhibition is held annually from the end of December to approximately the end of January at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin. https://www.bundespressekonferenz.de/

From approximately the end of January, the exhibition will be on display at the Freundeskreis Willy-Brandt Haus in Berlin. https://www.fkwbh.de/

From around the end of May, the exhibition can be seen at the environmental photo festival “horizonte zingst.” www.horizonte-zingst.de

From the end of September to the end of November, the exhibition can be viewed at the Schleswig Museum. https://www.stadtmuseum-schleswig.de/