Climate change is a challenge shared by all of humanity. Global warming is accelerating: glaciers are melting faster, biodiversity is declining sharply, extreme weather is becoming more frequent, and food and water insecurity is worsening, seriously affecting the global economy, society and the natural environment. On the path to addressing global climate change, young people are key participants, drivers and leaders in building a global ecological civilisation and achieving sustainable development, and they carry an extraordinary mission for our times. Real images can stir our deepest feelings and are a direct way for us to see the world as it truly is. It is against this backdrop that the Climate & Sustainability Photography Awards were created.
The Awards aim to raise young people's awareness of sustainable development through real images, to inspire them to rethink how to build a harmonious relationship with the natural world, to nurture all living things by following the ways of nature, and to find development opportunities in protecting nature, achieving a win-win between ecological protection and high-quality economic development.
The inaugural Climate & Sustainability Photography Awards will run as a public-interest initiative around two pressing and challenging global environmental issues, "Tackling Climate Change" and "Protecting Biodiversity". The Awards invite submissions from young people, and a professional jury will select a set of representative photographs, which will be exhibited publicly during "2024 Shanghai Climate Week" and at offline exhibitions touring the world, using real images to convey the beauty of ecological civilisation and to show the public a harmonious picture in which all things grow together.
Organising bodies
Host:
Shanghai Climate Week
Co-host:
Asian Development Bank
Organisers:
Shanghai Climate Week Youth Council
Asia-Pacific Entrepreneurs Association (APEA)
Strategic partners:
Fuqi Youth
World Economic Forum Global Shapers Shanghai Hub
Supporting partners:
UNDP (Suzhou) Sustainable Development Innovation Lab, Pusi Academy, Rural Notes, Xishi Magic Bag, WeCarbon, TouchBase
Categories
The categories are based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Sustainable
Development Goals, SDGs). There are four categories in this edition: Sustainable Cities and Communities, Climate Action, Life Below Water, and Life on Land.
To ensure the fairness and credibility of the Awards, the organisers will invite relevant experts to form a jury. Judging will take place in three stages: preliminary review, expert review and public voting. After the expert review, the organisers will ask shortlisted photographers to provide the original raw files containing shooting information as well as the edited files, in preparation for the exhibition. Photographers must provide these files to the organisers within the specified time; otherwise their entries will be deemed invalid. A photographer may not receive more than one award.
*The expert jury line-up will be announced separately
How to enter
Send your entries to the organisers' designated email address contact.shcwyc@shanghaiclimateweek.org.cn (please write in the email subject line: 2024 Climate & Sustainability Photography Awards – Entrant's name – Category)
Entrants may share their work on Xiaohongshu (RED) or Instagram and tag @ and #Climate & Sustainability Photography Awards to increase the exposure and visibility of their work
Submission rules
Who can enter
Open to young professional photographers and young amateur photography enthusiasts. There is no entry fee.
Submission requirements
1. Entries must have appropriate content and a positive, healthy theme, and must comply with national laws and regulations;
2. Each entrant may submit to no more than 2 categories, with no more than 3 works (or series) per category and no more than 10 images per series.
3. When submitting entries by email, entrants must provide the following:
a.a CV (in Chinese or English; please click "Read the original" at the end of the article to download the CV template);
b.each work (or series) must include its title in Chinese and English, the date taken (year and month), the location and a description (no more than 300 characters, explaining how the work reflects the theme of the category and the entrant's sustainability statement)
*For detailed descriptions of the works expected in each category, see the end of this article
Technical requirements1. Entries must be in JPG format (under 10MB/image), with a resolution of at least 150dpi and a long side of at least 1000 pixels; no watermarks, signatures, etc. may be added; 2. Entries may be in colour or black and white, with no restriction on when they were taken;3. Any equipment may be used: digital cameras, film cameras, drones or mobile phones.
Prizes
Prizes for shortlisted entries
01 A set of official souvenirs;
02 An electronic certificate of shortlisting;
03 Media exposure related to the Awards;
04 Membership of the organisers' community of young sustainability photographers, with free participation in future networking events, workshops and other activities of the Awards;
05 Shortlisted works will be exhibited at the Shanghai Climate Week venue, with the chance to join the Awards' touring offline exhibitions in 2-3 cities in China and abroad.
Prizes for the Overall Winner of the Year and Category Winners
01 A set of official souvenirs;
02 A mystery prize worth more than RMB 1,000 (follow the official Xiaohongshu account @Climate & Sustainability Photography Awards for the reveal);
03 A trophy and award certificate;
04 Media exposure related to the Awards;
05 Membership of the organisers' community of young sustainability photographers, with free participation in future networking events, workshops and other activities of the Awards;
06 Becoming an expert member of the preliminary review panel for the next Climate & Sustainability Photography Awards;
07 Winning works will be shown at the Shanghai Climate Week venue and in the Awards' touring offline exhibitions in 2-3 cities in China and abroad.
Timeline
Call for entries (5 – 28 March)
In accordance with the submission rules and requirements,
submit your entry materials to the official email address.
Expert review (late March – early April)
The preliminary review panel screens the entries, after which the expert jury selects 20 shortlisted works (5 outstanding works per category)
Shortlist announcement and exhibition (mid-April – 22 April)
The shortlisted works will be announced on the official Shanghai Climate Week platforms and exhibited at the venue on the opening day of Shanghai Climate Week
Public voting (22 – 28 April)
Public voting opens on the opening day and remains open for 7 days
Announcement of winners (TBD)
The final 5 winning works will be announced and an award ceremony held at the next offline touring exhibition
*The dates of the award ceremony and the global touring exhibition will be announced by the organisers after public voting closes
Notes for entrants
Entrants must ensure that their information is truthful and their works are original. Anyone who submits false information, steals/impersonates the work of others, or submits AI -generated works will be disqualified and bear the corresponding legal liability;
Entries must not infringe any third party's copyright, portrait rights, reputation rights, privacy rights, trademark rights, trade name rights or other legitimate rights and interests; entrants are personally responsible for any legal disputes arising from infringement;
If the main subject of a photograph is a picture, painting, calligraphy, paper-cut, design drawing or similar, permission must also be obtained from the relevant copyright holders;
Photographs taken of works displayed in museums, exhibition halls, art galleries and similar venues, where the main subject is the exhibit, will be regarded as reproductions and are not eligible;
By submitting a work, the author agrees to grant the organisers, implementing organisations and partners the right to use the work for public-interest purposes, including but not limited to exhibitions, electronic publications, websites, albums, videos and self-media platforms;
All entrants are deemed to agree to all rules of the Awards. The host and organisers reserve the right of final interpretation of this event.
We look forward to your work. It could explore the many faces of living things, capture a vivid moment in an urban community, or present a creative vision of nature's wondrous craftsmanship. Here, your work is not only an expression of personal feeling, but also a lively conversation about the beauty of a sustainable ecological civilisation, together showing the public a harmonious picture in which all things grow together.
The Climate & Sustainability Photography Awards welcome your entries and active participation.
Detailed descriptions of the categories
01 Sustainable Cities and Communities:
This category is for photography that shows the importance of sustainable cities and communities, such as images of sustainable urban development, sustainable dining, green mobility, urban waste management and green public spaces
02 Climate Action:
This category is for photography that shows the importance of actively responding to climate change and its impacts, such as images of climate-related disasters, resilience to natural disasters, and climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
03 Life Below Water:
This category is for photography that shows the importance of conserving and sustainably using the oceans and marine resources, such as images of marine litter pollution, marine biodiversity conservation, sustainable ocean management and protection, sustainable use of marine resources and ocean technology
04 Life on Land:
This category is for photography that shows the protection, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, such as images of sustainable forest management, ecological restoration, combating desertification and terrestrial biodiversity conservation
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