Climate Change Photo Essay Prize

The Climate Change Photo Essay Prize calls upon 18 – 30-year-olds from Africa and the global diaspora community to document the environmental changes happening before their very eyes. After the success of the first-ever edition of the Climate Change Photo Essay Prize in 2023, we launched the second edition of the prize with the theme – “At a crossroad: Climate and change”.

This theme asked young photographers to consider how the ecological crisis is currently changing lives, how innovation and technology are responding to the crisis, and where change is not happening fast enough. The world is now at a crossroad when it comes to climate change, and photography can serve both as a tool for advocacy and as a barometer to show us where we stand.

The discipline of photography was chosen specifically because of its ability to communicate with audiences universally, in what is a global challenge that will require cross-demographic collaboration. It’s also evident from shifting social media trends that young people communicate online through an increasingly visual language. Photography represents the perfect starting point for active engagement on such issues, especially in an age of AI, when going out into the real-world and experiencing one’s own environment in an authentic first-hand way is becoming more important than ever before.

The Climate Change Photo Essay Prize is run by Africa Soft Power (ASP), in association with African Women Board (AWB) as part of the ‘Road to 100 Million Climate Soldiers in Africa’ campaign. The campaign is focused on climate education, which we view as the first step in securing climate solutions. Our goal is to educate and empower 100 million young Africans in the fight against climate change, which we will measure through the reach of each of the campaign’s projects.