UNICEF Photo of the Year
The internationally renowned ‘UNICEF Photo of the Year’ contest is aimed at professional photographers from all over the world. An independent jury of photography experts chooses the winner. Starting from this year the contest is directed by Markus Seewald.
Application for UNICEF Photo of the Year 2025
Only professional photographers suggested by international experts are allowed to participate in the contest UNICEF Photo of the Year. Registration takes place via the platform Picter. The photo competition starts on September the 1st 2025, at 10:00 a.m. CEST. Submissions will be accepted until the 15th of October 2025.
For any further questions please contact:
Markus SeewaldUNICEF Photo of the Year, Project Manager
The Contest
Each year since 2000, UNICEF Germany has awarded the ‘UNICEF Photo of the Year’ award to photos and photo series that depict the personalities and living conditions of children worldwide in an outstanding manner. Only professional photographers are eligible for this contest.
“High-quality documentary photography can open people’s eyes. Each year, the winning photos from the UNICEF photo contest do exactly that: they open our eyes to the predicaments of children all around the world,” says Georg Graf Waldersee, Chairman of UNICEF Germany. “They show children’s fates, honestly and sincerely, sometimes full of pain and sometimes full of hope. They are a powerful appeal for empathy and compassion, reminding us of our shared mission: to work for the well-being of children worldwide.”
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the jury session has been held online. To ensure that the jury can properly compare the submitted images, all photos and their associated information are displayed in a standardized presentation format. All entries are also anonymized for the jury session.
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 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/
"UNICEF Photo of the Year" is a UNICEF project. The intellectual property rights and rights of use to the images used on this website are reserved to the photographers.
The images available for download may only be used for media reporting purposes in relation to the project "UNICEF Photo of the Year" and for the general advancement of UNICEF and its activities. Any image used may not be altered and may only be published together with the appropriate credit to the photographer.
Any use of the images hosted on the UNICEF website other than as described in the foregoing paragraph requires the express written permission of the photographer.
All unauthorized use of the images is strictly prohibited and will lead to the appropriate legal action being taken.