ELIGIBILITY:

Theme—Water: Our Shared Story

Water shapes our lives, communities, economies, and ecosystems.

This global photography competition invites photographers to submit a story of 5–10 photographs that explores the relationship between:

Water & People

Water & Communities

Water & Planet

Water & Innovation

Water & Challenges

The 2026 United Nations Water Conference, co-hosted by the UAE and Senegal, will take place in Abu Dhabi from 8-10 December 2026.

The Conference aims to bring together countries and stakeholders from around the world to accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 6: ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

Entry is FREE

Learn more about the 2026 UN Water Conference

Criteria:

The competition is open for online submissions only through the members page available on: https://hipa.ae/members/login

Submissions are open from 16 September 2026 until 15 October 2026 at 11:59 PM (UAE Standard Time—GMT +4). No submissions will be accepted after the deadline.

Participants must be individuals aged 18 years and over at the time of their submission.

You hereby certify that you are eighteen (18) years old or older at the date of submitting your photo(s) to the competition. You further understand and agree that HIPA reserve the right and will automatically and without further notice discard any photo(s) that are found to be submitted by a participant that is below eighteen (18) years old at the time of the submission.

Your Photo:

You may submit 5 to 10 photos.

You must provide a title and description for your portfolio.

Submitted photo must have an original file in JPEG format, with high quality and resolution, of a minimum 5 MB in size, the minimum of the longest edge should be no less than 2000 pixel and the quality no less than 300dpi.

Submission(s) from mobile phones and drones are allowed.

You are kindly requested to upload the original photo(s) (RAW) or the photo(s) without any editing on the time of submitting the photo(s) to the competition.

All submitted photo(s) must not contain any tag(s), signature(s), initial(s), frame, border(s), logo(s) or any other references and/or marks added by the participant.

Basic technical editing of the photo(s) is acceptable, provided that any such editing does not affect the authenticity and/or genuineness of the photo(s). Advanced editing is used to create illusions, deceptions, and/or manipulations; including compositing and creative retouching of the photo(s) is prohibited.

HIPA preserves the right to assess and discard from the competition any submitted photo, contrary to the foregoing.

Photos that portray or otherwise include inappropriate and/or offensive content, including nudity, violence, and/or any other content deemed to be contrary to the UAE’s religious, cultural, and/or public morals traditions and practices, will be disqualified.

BENEFIT:

Water: Our Shared Story

1^st $10,000

2^nd $8,000

3^rd $5,000