Join the 2025 Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest

UNESCO calls on young people around the world, aged 14 to 25 years old, to pick up their cameras and send their best photos to the 7th edition of our Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads International Photo Contest. 

The UNESCO Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads photo contest, part of the Organization’s Silk Roads Programme of the Social and Human Sciences Sector, promotes photography as a tool to encourage cultural interaction, foster mutual understanding, and promote peace among peoples living across the Silk Roads regions. 

This year, the theme of the 7th edition is “Women, Guardians of Silk Roads Heritage”, young photographers are invited to explore and capture the essential roles of women in preserving and transmitting the shared heritage of the Silk Roads. 

Young participants may draw inspiration from, but are not limited to:  

• Women practicing crafts such as weaving, embroidery, ceramics, or pottery – or other examples of cultural heritage.  
• Traditional sports and games practiced or transmitted by women.  
• Music, musical instruments, dance, or oral storytelling performed by women.  
• Culinary traditions, gastronomy, and food production passed down through women.  
• Women as writers, educators, artists, merchants, or scientists contributing to cultural and intellectual exchanges along the Silk Roads.  
• Intercommunity and multicultural gatherings led by women during celebrations, life milestones, or everyday life. 
• Portraits of women from Silk Roads regions capturing cultural identity, resilience, knowledge, and moments of joy, learning, or celebration. 

Key Information: 

Deadline: Sunday 20 July 2025, at 23:59:59 (GMT +2). 

• Age Categories: Two categories: 

- 14 to 17 years old  
- 18 to 25 years old 

• Prizes: Three winners in each age category will receive cameras: 

- First prize: Professional camera 
- Second prize: Semi-professional camera 
- Third prize: Standard-model digital camera 

• Visibility: 

Additionally, around 60 of the best photos from the contest will be featured in the professional photo album “Youth Lens on the Silk Roads” and may be showcased in exhibitions organized worldwide. 

• Selection: 

Photo entries will be reviewed by an International Selection Committee. 

• For instructions on how to participate, click here 
• More information on the photo contest 
• Contact: silkroadsphotocontest@unesco.org 

#UNESCOSilkRoads 

The Silk Roads in short 

For thousands of years the Silk Roads have been an extensive network of trade and communication routes, connecting civilizations and bringing peoples and cultures from across the world into contact with one another. As well as permitting the exchange of goods, they facilitated the interaction of ideas, cuisines, languages, and fashions, shaping the cultures and identities of the contemporary world. The Silk Roads linked vast areas of the world – originating in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, then crossing Central Asia, the Russian steppe and Indian subcontinent, the Iranian and Anatolian plateaux, and the Arabian Peninsula. They also stretch through North and Northeast Africa, from Tanzania to Morocco, before passing through Eastern and Southern Europe, reaching France and the Iberian Peninsula. 

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In a rapidly changing world, where new challenges and transformations shape societies and their educational and cultural institutions, this contest offers young people an opportunity to share their creativity and vision for a more inclusive world, where tolerance and intercultural dialogue foster mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence. In this spirit, UNESCO, through its many initiatives, works to promote access to knowledge and education, support learning, and engage youth worldwide.