CURE Photo Contest

The Collaborative for Urban Resilience and Effectiveness (CURE) invites you to join us in raising our sight towards an inclusive and sustainable future for our world’s cities through the following themes:

The world continues to urbanize at an astonishing pace. When the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by world leaders in 2015, half the world’s population lived in cities, a 5-fold increase over the prior 100 years. Estimates now suggest that 70% of the world’s population will live in cities in 2050.

Though history reveals that urbanization has always been an accelerator of growth and development, it also poses profound challenges. As the World Bank notes, “… recent examples show how economic crises, health epidemics, and uncontrolled urbanization can also affect the ability of a city to sustain growth and provide services for its citizens – underscoring the need for a new approach to resilient urban development.” Indeed, UN SDG11 focuses on “Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.”

COVID-19 is offering the world a particularly stark reminder that a focus on long-term resilience is crucial for citizens, communities, corporations, cities and countries. The crisis has laid bare the urgent need for greater multilateralism, inclusion and collaboration from which globally-informed and locally-relevant actions may surface.

Youth are vital in the journey towards inclusive and sustainable cities and communities. They have a unique ability to catalyze community-wide action. By increasing awareness of the complex challenges facing cities and inspiring them to participate in the creation of equitable, diverse, and inclusive cities and communities, we will all make progress towards a more just, prosperous and thriving world.

• Only shortlisted entries will be contacted.
• All photos must be original photos taken within the year of 2020. Participants may submit a photo series but it will be judged as one (1) entry. Participants may submit a maximum of three (3) entries but may only win once.
• Each entry must be the original work of the participant and must not contain any trademarks or copyrighted material.
• Each entry should be accompanied by a title and a short caption, written in English, not exceeding 100 words. The caption should capture the story of the photo: where and when it was taken, the inspiration behind it, and why you think it is relevant to the theme. The caption should include the hashtag #CUREphotocontest, so it can be adapted for use on social media.
• Entries must be original and unpublished. Contestants should be prepared to certify this attestation on request.
• Contestants must obtain all necessary third-party releases (human subjects in the photographs, including parental/guardians’ approval for minors).
• Initial entries via email must be in JPEG format at a resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, either in portrait or landscape layout, and not more than 5MB in size. Shortlisted photos will need to be re-submitted in higher resolution.
• Amateur photographers are greatly encouraged.
• Entries will be judged based on the following criteria: (1) Clarity and relevance to the themes of the contest; (2) creativity; and (3) photographic quality of the photograph.

By entering, you retain copyright and remain the owner of your images and may also continue to use them in any manner you choose. You agree that the images you submit may be used in printed publications of CURE, its social media platforms, its websites, or in any other media, and may be copied and displayed in any country, provided that you are afforded appropriate attribution as the photographer.

Ownership and Use of Submitted Photos

Participants of the photo contest are still considered as the owners of their content. However, CURE may publish the submitted materials, with appropriate credit, in any communication collaterals produced by the organization. Publication of the submitted content is at CURE’s sole discretion. The organization shall also be allowed to make changes or additions to the content.

Copyright Infringement

In the event that submitted entries are found to violate copyright rules, infringe upon intellectual property rights of any third person or entity, or violate a person’s rights to privacy and publicity, the participant agrees to indemnify CURE of all incurred damages.

Privacy Practices

Data including e-mail addresses, names, contact details, and others collected during this competition may be used by CURE to send out relevant communications such as announcements and newsletters. The participant who receives such communication are given the option to unsubscribe.

CURE gives the assurance that none of these data are shared with any third-party entity or organization.