📸 3rd Annual African Palliative Care Photography Competition

📸 3rd Annual African Palliative Care Photography Competition

The African Palliative Care Association (APCA) is pleased to announce the third edition of its annual photography competition, aimed at showcasing what good palliative care for adults and children looks like across diverse African contexts.

This initiative funded by the True Colours Trust (TCT) invites individuals and organizations involved in palliative care to visually document impactful moments in care delivery across homes, institutions, and community settings.

Winning images will be featured on the APCA website and shared across partner platforms with full credit to the photographer and/or organization.

👥 Who Can Participate?

Submissions are invited from:

• Palliative care organizations and individuals working in the field
• Current and former recipients of APCA/TCT small grants
• Registered members of APCA

Recommended: We encourage all participants to complete the free online course on best practices in ethical photography, available via the APCA Resource Center.

📥 How to Enter

Participants must:

1. Download and complete the official competition entry form here.
2. Submit a maximum of four (4) high-resolution photographs (each between 1MB and 10MB).
3. Provide a brief narrative (max 100 words per photo) outlining the context, date, activity, and perceived impact.

📧 Submit your entries to:
Dianah Hossana, Research and M&E Associate
✉️ dianah.hossana@africanpalliativecare.org

🗓️ Submission Deadline: 6th July 2026

📋 Submission Guidelines

• Each photo must be between 1MB and 10MB in size.
• Photos must be original and not previously awarded in any other competition.
• Descriptions must include location, context, date, and nature of the activity.
• Screenshots and collages will not be accepted.
• A maximum of four entries per participant is allowed.
• All images must respect the dignity and privacy of individuals depicted.
• All submissions must be original work created by the participant.
• All submissions should have been taken within the last 12 months. If older photographs are submitted, a justification must be included.
• Photos that highlight unique or rarely documented palliative care contexts, settings, or conditions are encouraged.
• Each photo submission should be accompanied with a fully filled and signed consent form as confirmation that the individual(s) in the submitted photos have consented.
• APCA and TCT reserve the right to remove or reject submissions for any reason.

🎥 Support for Camera Purchase

Individuals or employees of participating organizations may apply for a small grant to support the purchase of a low-cost camera. The maximum grant available for this purpose is GBP 100 (One hundred pounds).

📆 Timelines

🧑‍⚖️ Judging Criteria

A panel of judges will evaluate all photo submissions based on a standardized set of criteria. Key considerations will include technical skill, relevance to the theme, diversity, originality, and creativity in composition. The judges' decision is final, and no correspondence will be entertained regarding the judging process or the organization of the competition. The panel will consist of palliative care experts, professional photographers and leaders from national palliative care associations across Africa.

🏆 Prizes and Recognition

• 1st Prize: £500
• 2nd Prize: £300
• 3rd Prize: £250
• 4th Prize: £200
• 5th Prize: £150

🏅 Winning photographs will be exhibited at the APCA Conference and promoted through various communication platforms.

📑 Terms and Conditions

• As an organization or individual, if you are a winner or commended photographer, you agree to take part in and cooperate fully with reasonable publicity and to the use of your name and photograph in such publicity (e.g., publication of photograph(s) with your name by APCA and the TCT).
• Credit will be given to your organization or individual if your submitted photo/image is used by APCA.
• The competition is open to anyone except those directly involved with the competition and judging (including their families and relatives) and those under 18 years of age.
• Entries will be anonymized to ensure fairness.
• If a photo subject is under 18 years of age, consent must be obtained from their parent/carer/guardian by signing the consent form attached to these terms of reference.

📸 Usage Rights

By entering the competition, you grant APCA a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to reproduce, enlarge, publish or exhibit, on any media, the images for any purpose to further its aims and objectives. Credit will always be given to the photographer.

🔐 Data Protection

We will keep your details on our secure database to enable us to use your images (see usage rights) and send you information about the annual photography competition and other information about APCA.

⚖️ Indemnity and Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, APCA excludes its liability for any loss, damage, injury, cost or expense suffered by you, whether directly or indirectly and howsoever caused, in connection with the competition and use of any prize. You agree to indemnify APCA against any loss, damage, injury, cost or expense suffered by APCA as a result of your entry, including (but not limited to) any claim of infringement of intellectual property rights made by any third party.

✅ Entrant Declarations

By submitting images to APCA, each entrant confirms and warrants that:

• The organization or individual is the sole author of each entry and that it is their original work.
• They have the permission of anyone pictured in the image (or, where the image shows any persons under 18, the consent of their parent/guardian) for the usage rights required by APCA, and will indemnify APCA against any claims made by third parties in respect of such infringement.
• Images respect human and patient dignity.
• Entries include location, context and activity details with each submission.
• APCA reserves the right to remove or refuse entries for any reason.