04 — Our Impact So Far
Since its launch, the Climate Change Photo Essay Prize has completed two full editions and built a growing international footprint.
Third Edition · Open Call · Photography Prize
Climate Change
Photo Essay
Prize 2026
Lines of Survival: Living, adapting, imagining tomorrow.
Submissions Open
June 1, 2026
Deadline
July 13, 2026
Entry Fee
Free
Open To
Ages 18–30
Third Edition · Open Call · Photography Prize
Climate Change
Photo Essay
Prize 2026
Lines of Survival: Living, adapting, imagining tomorrow.
Submissions Open
June 1, 2026
Deadline
July 13, 2026
Entry Fee
Free
Open To
Ages 18–30
01 — The Theme
What This Year Asks of You
The Climate Change Photo Essay Prize invites young photographers aged 18–30 from Africa and the global diaspora to document the environmental shifts unfolding around them, and the ways communities are responding.
Now in its third edition, the Prize continues its mission to amplify African and diaspora perspectives within the global climate conversation, using photography as a tool for advocacy, public engagement, and climate literacy.
This year’s theme “Lines of Survival: Living, adapting, imagining tomorrow” asks young photographers to explore how people and communities are navigating climate pressures, the inventive and resourceful ways they are adapting, and how imagination can help shape the possibilities of a more resilient future.
At a time when adaptation finance, just transition, and the question of whose voices shape climate action are firmly on the global agenda, the Prize places young African climate storytellers at the centre of the conversation.
About the Prize | Photography as Climate Action
The Climate Change Photo Essay Prize is a flagship project under the Road to 100 Million Climate Soldiers in Africa initiative, launched by Africa Soft Power and African Women on Board.
The initiative was created to address one of the most persistent barriers to climate action on the continent: the lack of relatable, locally grounded narratives that connect climate change to everyday life — livelihoods, security, food systems, health, education, and economic opportunity.
Through photography, the Prize invites young people to document climate realities as they see and experience them: from loss and disruption to adaptation, resilience, imagination, and community-led response.
- Young photographers aged 18–30 on the closing date (July 13, 2026)
- Applicants from Africa and the global African diaspora
- Emerging photographers, visual storytellers, documentary photographers, artists, students, and creative practitioners
- Entrants submitting an original photo essay made up of three to five images
Photographs Received
620
+
Participating Countries
20
+
Continents Toured
0
To date, the Prize has received 670+ photographs from 30+ participating countries, with finalists exhibited across Africa, Europe, and North America. Previous winners and finalists have explored themes including water scarcity, desertification, flooding, displacement, plastic pollution, environmental anxiety, resilience, and the fragile relationship between people and the natural world.
05 — Previous Winners
Voices That Shaped the Prize
Each edition’s winner and finalists are selected through a blind judging process conducted across two rounds, designed to ensure impartiality across a range of criteria.
2nd Edition · Winner
Garba Bakura
Nigeria
In Search for a Drop
Selected through a blind judging process across two rounds, Bakura’s winning series documents the increasing centrality of water and the transportation systems sustaining farming communities now surrounded by desert.
1st Edition · Winner
Doux Free
Rwanda
Misty Morning of Changes
Capturing silhouetted figures carrying farming equipment through a foggy morning, Free’s series reflects the uncertainty, atmosphere, and cautious optimism of communities living through climate change.
For enquiries, email: curator@africasoftpower.com