USAID’s energy programs help countries build reliable and resilient energy systems that are widely accessible and affordable. We work across all aspects of the energy sector to fuel global prosperity by building critical skills among partners, strengthening institutions, and facilitating investment in technology and infrastructure. We’re looking for photos that illustrate the programs, faces, and places that exemplify this work.

Announcing the 2024 USAID Energy Photo Contest!
Your photos will be featured in USAID publications, websites, and social media.

Submission Guidelines

SUBMIT your photos by March 29!

ELIGIBILITY: This contest is open to USAID staff, USAID implementers, and partners.

INSTRUCTIONS: Please send photos as email attachments to energy@usaid.gov, with the subject line “2024 Energy Photo Contest.” If your photos are too large to send over email, please upload them to Google Drive or Dropbox, and include links to the photos in your email.

Include the following information in the email—either in the body or in an attached file—for each photo submitted:

• Name of photographer, email address, and project and/or organizational affiliation.
• Name of copyright holder: If the photo was produced while under contract to USAID, USAID holds the copyright. (As such, it is  a U.S. Government work and the photo’s copyright is in the public domain.) If the photo was produced while under a USAID grant or cooperative agreement, the grantee, implementer, or their partners may be able to assert copyright. Personal photography receiving no funding from the U.S. Government or its agencies is the property of the photographer.
• Location: Please include as much detail as possible. At the very least, this must include the city and country.
• Caption: A description of who and/or what is in the photo and what is happening, in no more than 4-5 sentences (150 words max). Please provide as much detail as possible; we encourage you to include quotes and statistics. In the description, please describe how the photo is a part of, or relates to, USAID energy programming.
• Theme: Please indicate in your email one or more of the following themes that your photo illustrates:
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Energy Access
  • Energy Infrastructure
  • Energy Security
  • Women’s Empowerment & Inclusive Development
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sector Governance and Reform
  • Transportation

For examples and ideas, check out the USAID Energy Flickr account.

Photos must meet the following technical requirements:

• Photos must be original and depict USAID programming or results of USAID programming.
• Photos must be submitted as a JPG or PNG file.
• Please send the highest resolution photo possible (Minimum width of 1920 pixels).
• We will not accept a photo with an overlaid logo or text.
• We will not accept a photo sent inside a Word document or PDF.
• Submissions should capture USAID’s energy programmatic work. Examples of work with partners and beneficiaries are welcomed, provided that the caption describes the connection to USAID work.

You have until March 29, 2024 to submit photos for the photo contest. Entries will be judged on relevance to the themes outlined above, as well as photo composition, originality, and technical quality. Winning photos will be announced in Summer 2024. We will feature winners here on the USAID.gov/Energy website, highlight them on our social media accounts, and publish all submissions to the USAID Energy Flickr account.

Disclaimer

You are granting USAID an unrestricted license to reproduce your photo in any format, including print products, on the web, and in social media. Please make sure you read the disclaimer below for full details.

By submitting a photograph to this competition, you:

1. Declare that you, your organization, or USAID own the copyright of the photograph and that it is your original work or that you are authorized to share these photos.
2. Declare that you have permission to use the visual image of any identifiable individual in the photograph for entry into the competition and that the image may be published as stipulated in the photo contest guidelines. You may be asked to provide the standard release agreement (linked in previous sentence)
3. Agree that USAID will not be responsible for the infringement of any third-party rights in the photograph, moral or otherwise, that may arise as a result of your actions or omissions and that you indemnify USAID against all legal fees, claims, damages, and other expenses that may be incurred as a result of your breach of the contest rules.
4. Grant reproduction rights for USAID use and in doing so, agree that USAID can use your photograph for the purposes of the competition and also for future reproduction in perpetuity on websites, literature, and any other materials at USAID’s discretion.