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2026 Theme: Friendship Around the World

The annual Global Engagement Photo Contest for January - December 2026 is open! The 2026 contest focuses on Friendship Around the World and we want your photos of your SCU friends, friends you met while abroad on a global program, or photos of yourself abroad.

International students and students abroad on an SCU global program during Winter/Spring 2026, Summer 2026, and Fall 2026 may submit until January 23, 2027.

Eligibility

• Students who studied or interned abroad in Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall 2026
• Undergraduate, Graduate, and Non-degree international students
• Photos must have been taken between January 1 and December 31, 2026

Judging Criteria

• The photograph includes people
• The photograph tells a story
• Originality
• Technical/artistic difficulty

Submission Guidelines

Prior to submission, please review Global Engagement’s Photo Contest criteria, guidelines, and the tenets of ethical photography.

• All photos must be submitted by January 22, 2027 using the
• Students must complete and submit the with their photos
• Submissions submitted previously are ineligible for reconsideration
• Each contestant may submit a maximum of 5 photos
• Photos must be between 3,000-5,000 pixels wide (if a horizontal image) or 3,000-5,000 pixels tall (if a vertical image)
• All photos should align with SCU’s guidelines for ethical photography

Voting

The Global Engagement Photo Contest voting will take place virtually on January 28, 2027. All students, staff, and faculty are invited to cast their votes online during this time.

Contest Winners

Winners will be announced in early February each year and displayed on the Global Engagement website. Additionally, photographs will be featured on Global Engagement’s social media accounts, so be sure to give us a follow: 

Guidelines for Ethical Photography

Captions

The story you tell through your photo and about your photo should not include you as the hero. We are seeking photos and captions that do not solely focus on your feelings of being “touched”, “overjoyed”, or “in love” nor assumptions about what others were feeling towards you. We are seeking photos and captions that work to ensure that all voices are heard, respected, and valued. 

Justice

In keeping with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we are seeking photographs that respect the rights, dignity, and worth of all people. Aim for complex portrayals of subjects and abstain from submitting photos that potentially stereotype, sensationalize, or discriminate. 

Consent 

Please remember the importance of having obtained consent, especially for capturing the likeness of vulnerable populations such as children, those with disabilities, marginalized persons, etc. If you did not receive consent from the subjects or the parents or caretakers of your subjects to capture and share a photograph of them, unfortunately, it is not eligible for the photo contest. 

Fidelity

We are seeking photographs that fairly contextualize and represent the real situation, location, and subject identity depicted. Think about what your photo will communicate to others in light of the fact that images offer only limited context and perspective.