2026 Call for Entries
30th Luis Valtueña
International Humanitarian
Photography Award
Médicos del Mundo Spain announces the 30rd Luis Valtueña International Humanitarian Photography Award, aimed at recognizing and disseminating the best images that singularly demonstrate social inequities, injustices, and/or human rights abuses, or the situations that either foster or fight them.
By giving this competition the name of the photographer and international aid worker Luis Valtueña, we pay tribute to his memory and the other three humanitarian aid workers of the association murdered in Rwanda (1997) and Bosnia (1995) out their duties. It is also our wish to highlight the human values they represent.
If you are interested in participating in this call for entries, please click here for the terms and conditions (also available in Spanish and French).
Time Frame
Competition launches for entries
Thursday, 30 July 2026.
Competition closes for entries
Sunday, 11 October 2026 at 23:59 (GMT+2).
Rectification of errors
October 2026.
Jury’s decision
November 2026.
Award ceremony and exhibition opening
2027.
Prize
Cash prize *View Terms and Conditions
The total prize fund for the 2026 Luis Valtueña International Humanitarian Photography Award amounts to €12,000 (gross), distributed as follows:
– First Prize (Overall Winner): €6,000.
– Second Prize: €2,000.
– Third Prize: €2,000.
– Fourth Prize: €2,000.
– Special Prize: €1,500, awarded by the San Sebastián Human Rights Film Festival to a single photograph selected from the four winning series. The chosen image will become the official visual for the festival’s 2027 edition.
In addition, the winner and the finalists will also have their work published in the catalog and displayed in the collective and itinerant exhibition that Médicos del Mundo Spain shall produce.
The organization will cover the travel and lodging for two consecutive nights of the chosen entrants to attend the award ceremony and inauguration of the exhibition.
Médicos del Mundo is committed to widely promoting the chosen images and their authors for at least one year through press releases, meetings with the media, and ad-hoc dissemination materials, among other forms.
Themes
The submitted images must narrate a story related to one of these topics: health, natural disasters, humanitarian action, international cooperation, social exclusion, violation of human rights, armed conflicts, vulnerable groups, refugee and/or migrant populations.
Jury
An international jury, made up of leading professionals in the photography world, a representative from humanitarian action and a representative of Médicos del Mundo, will choose the winning series and may select up to three finalists.
How to enter?
This year, entries must be submitted exclusively in digital format via the Picter website. If you are not yet registered on the platform, you will need to create an account in order to participate. Registration is free.
You will only be able to submit a single application. Once your submission is successfully submitted, you will receive a confirmation email.
Each entrant must submit the following documentation:
– Personal and contact details
– Biography (max. 1500 characters)
– A series of between 5 (minimum) and 10 (maximum) photographs, in colour and/or in black and white
– Description of the project presented, including captions
Important: The author’s name must not appear in the description of the project, in the captions or in the name of the files.
For entry requirements or further information, please refer to the contest rules.
Terms
Before submitting to this award, we recommend you read the Terms and Conditions of the call (also available in French and Spanish).
Click on the following link to download the rules in PDF:
Open Call 2026 Luis Valtueña (English)
L´appel 2026 Prix Luis Valtueña (français)
Questions?
For any questions or information, you can look at our FAQ’s page, or send us an email at premioluisvaltuena@medicosdelmundo.org.
If you have questions about the submission system Picter, please visit their help center, or you can email them at support@picter.com (only English).
The 30th Luis Valtueña International Award is being supported by
