Luis Valtueña International Humanitarian Photography Award with Prizes Worth Up to €12,000 – 2026
Applicant criteria
- No specific age required
- Both
Opportunity criteria
Opportunity description
Médicos del Mundo España has opened submissions for the 30th Luis Valtueña International Humanitarian Photography Award 2026, one of the leading international competitions and awards dedicated to documentary photography and photojournalism with a humanitarian focus.
The award aims to recognize and promote visual stories that expose inequality, human rights violations, social injustice, armed conflict, migration and displacement, humanitarian crises, and initiatives seeking to address these challenges. The jury gives particular attention to stories that receive limited media coverage or focus on marginalized issues.
Participants must submit a coherent series of 5 to 10 photographs that tells a clear humanitarian story through a documentary or journalistic approach. The total value of the cash prizes is EUR 12,000. Winning works will also be published in the official catalogue and displayed in a traveling exhibition at festivals, galleries, and cultural centers across Spain.
Competition Themes
The photo series must address one or more of the following topics:
- Health
- Humanitarian action
- International cooperation
- Natural disasters and emergency situations
- Social exclusion
- Migration and displacement
- Armed conflict
- Vulnerable groups
- Inequality
- Human rights violations
- Initiatives and efforts aimed at confronting injustice and promoting human dignity
Benefits
The total value of the cash prizes is EUR 12,000, distributed as follows:
- First Prize: EUR 6,000
- Second Prize: EUR 2,000
- Third Prize: EUR 2,000
- Fourth Prize: EUR 2,000
An additional Special Prize of EUR 1,500 will be awarded by the San Sebastián Human Rights Film Festival to one photograph selected from the four winning series.
Additional benefits include:
- Publication of the four winning series in the award’s official catalogue.
- Inclusion of the works in a traveling group exhibition across Spain.
- Presentation of the works at photography festivals, galleries, and cultural centers.
- Coverage of travel and accommodation for two consecutive nights for selected participants attending the award ceremony and exhibition opening.
- Promotion of the selected works and artists for at least one year through media coverage, promotional materials, and press activities.
- The photograph selected for the Special Prize may become the official image of the 2027 San Sebastián Human Rights Film Festival.
Eligibility criteria
The following applicants are eligible to participate:
- Professional photographers.
- Amateur photographers.
- Applicants of all nationalities.
- Individuals who are of legal age.
- Groups consisting of two or more people.
- Photographers whose work follows a documentary or photojournalistic approach.
The following individuals are not eligible to participate:
- Employees of Médicos del Mundo España.
- Their first-degree relatives.
- Members of the jury.
- Individuals directly involved in organizing the competition.
Submission Requirements
- Each participant may submit only one application.
- The series must consist of 5 to 10 photographs.
- Photographs may be submitted in color or black and white.
- All submitted works must be original and created by the applicant.
- At least 50% of the series must have been produced during 2025 and 2026.
- The series must not have been submitted to previous editions of the award.
- The photographer’s name or logo must not appear on the photographs, filenames, project description, or accompanying captions.
- The photographs must retain complete EXIF metadata.
- Images created wholly or partially using generative artificial intelligence are not accepted.
- Basic technical adjustments, such as exposure, contrast, color balance, cropping, and noise reduction, are permitted, provided they do not alter the documentary content.
- Adding, removing, or replacing elements within the photographed scene is prohibited.
Technical Specifications
The photographs must:
- Be submitted in JPEG format.
- Have a resolution of at least 3,000 pixels on the longest side.
- Not exceed 3 MB per file.
- Preferably use an sRGB color profile or Gamma 2.2 grayscale profile.
- Be single-frame images rather than multi-image composites.
- Be arranged in the sequence in which the photographer wishes them to be presented to the jury.
Required Documents
The application must include:
- Personal and contact information.
- A brief biography not exceeding 1,500 characters.
- A photographic series consisting of 5 to 10 works.
- A description of the submitted project.
- A separate caption for each photograph explaining its details and context.
- Any documents or consent forms related to the rights of individuals appearing in the photographs, when required.
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