2025 GLOBAL PRIZE
Recipient: Sourav Das
Title: In Jharia’s Fire, Both Earth and Mothers Weep
Description: “Amid the burning coalfields of Jharia, an elderly woman collapses in grief. Her tears rise through the smoke, echoing the silence of lives lost and forgotten in the flames.”
Location: Jharia, India
2025 GLOBAL PRIZE TOP 10 FINALISTS
Title: On His Shoulder, Through the Storm
Description: Amid the 2024 floods in Feni, Bangladesh, a father carries his child from a local clinic, stepping through knee-deep contaminated water that swallowed homes and endangered countless lives.
Location: Feni, Bangladesh
Date: August 22, 2024
Photographer: S.M. Al Muztaba Rosul
Title: Searching the Guadalupe
Description: Days after catastrophic flash floods in central Texas, a lone rescuer combs the Guadalupe River near Camp Mystic, where waters rose 30 feet in an hour, sweeping away homes, trees, and 27 campers.
Location: Texas, USA
Date: July 6, 2025
Photographer: Jim Vondruska
Title: Planting for Tomorrow
Description: In Kyaukpadaung , farmers turn to bamboo cultivation, adopting methods that safeguard the climate while working in balance with nature, offering sustainable solutions for future generations.
Location: Kyaukpadaung , Mandalay Division, Myanmar
Date: August 1, 2024
Photographer: Yoe Yar
Title: Forced Living
Description: When Afghanistan built a dam on Lake Hirmand, its waters stopped flowing into Iran. The resulting drought and unrelenting 120-day winds now define daily survival for border communities in Zabol .
Location: Takht-e-Adalat Fishing Pier, Zabol , Iran
Date: July 20, 2025
Photographer: Maho
Title: Rising Tides, Rising Threats
Description: In Mumbai’s flooded shanty colony, a young boy is struck by a sudden high tide. Rising temperatures and early monsoons driven by climate change intensify flooding, leaving vulnerable communities increasingly at risk.
Location: Mumbai, India
Date: May 28, 2025
Photographer: S.L. Shanth Kumar
Title: The Drought Didn’t Take His Smile
Description: On Lago do Aleixo in Manaus, a child waves from a stranded boat. The 2024 drought—the Amazon’s worst in 122 years—dried up vast waters and disrupted countless lives.
Location: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil
Date: October 29, 2024
Photographer: Suamy Beydoun
Title: Forest Rescue
Description: In Baneh City, residents fight to save the Zagros forests, battling flames without proper equipment. Despite their courage, vast stretches are consumed by fire year after year.
Location: Baneh City, Kurdistan Province, Iran
Date: August 17, 2024
Photographer: Omid Mohammadi
Title: California Wildfires
Description: At sunset, flames from the Palisades Fire scar the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. The January 2025 blaze highlights California’s escalating wildfire crisis fueled by drought and rising temperatures.
Location: Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, USA
Date: January 14, 2025
Photographer: Ethan Swope
Title: Floating Classrooms as the Ganges Rises
Description: In Patna, Bihar, students attend class in waterlogged rooms as Ganges floodwaters surge through the city. Extreme weather and weak infrastructure leave schools vulnerable to sudden, climate-driven deluges.
Location: Patna, Bihar, India
Date: August 13, 2024
Photographer: Ashish Gupta
Title: Aftermath of Deadly Flooding at Camp Mystic
Description: Inside Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, chairs sit scattered in a damaged room. Flooding from the Guadalupe River left destruction in its wake, following a surge that claimed dozens of lives.
Location: Hunt, Texas, USA
Date: July 7, 2025
Photographer: Marco Bello
2025 GLOBAL PRIZE HONORABLE MENTIONS
Title: Resilience Amid the Flood
Description: In West Bengal, a young girl stands knee-deep in floodwaters, clutching schoolbooks outside her bamboo home. Her determination reflects the resilience of children facing worsening climate-driven floods.
Location: West Bengal, India
Date: August 1, 2025
Photographer: Sankar Mandal
Title: Small Shop
Description: In Hpa -an, Myanmar, residents struggle to clear floodwaters from a small shop. Their efforts capture the daily challenges faced by communities adapting to intensifying climate impacts and recurring floods.
Location: Hpa -an, Myanmar
Date: July 27, 2025
Photographer: Nan Lay Thwe Oo
Title: Child Returning Home on His Grandfather’s Back
Description: In Chittagong, hours of heavy rain leave roads submerged. A grandfather carries his grandson home from school, navigating floodwaters that routinely disrupt life in Bangladesh’s low-lying coastal city.
Location: Chittagong, Bangladesh
Date: July 28, 2025
Photographer: Md Shamim Ul Islam
Title: Face of Changes
Description: In Ścinawa , Poland, residents fill sandbags as a peak flood wave approaches. Their efforts to shield homes highlight the growing strain on small towns confronting extreme climate-driven flooding.
Location: Ścinawa , Poland
Date: September 18, 2024
Photographer: Piotr Dziurman
Title: Plastic Recycling
Description: In Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, families collect and repurpose plastic waste to survive. In a nation still marked by war’s legacy, recycling becomes both livelihood and necessity amid economic hardship.
Location: Vinh Phuc, Viet Nam
Date: May 23, 2025
Photographer: Quan Nguyen Ho
Title: Lost Settlement
Description: In Odisha, India, a man sits in a ghost village abandoned to coastal erosion. Once-thriving communities are vanishing, with 74 seaside settlements already claimed by the encroaching sea.
Location: Odisha, India
Date: August 11, 2024
Photographer: Sudip Maiti
Title: Cry of Nature
Description: In Kinshasa, muddy floodwaters swallow entire streets. The deluge transforms the city into a chaotic landscape where natural disaster overwhelms fragile infrastructure
Location: Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Date: April 6, 2025
Photographer: Liandja Elongo Hans
Title: Life on the Sandbar
Description: As rivers dry under climate stress, sandbars in Kushtia , Bangladesh, turn to grazing grounds. Herders guide cattle across shifting terrain, embodying resilience in a landscape continually reshaped by water’s absence.
Location: Kushtia , Bangladesh
Date: March 19, 2025
Photographer: Solayman Hossain
Title: Texas Floods
Description: In Kerrville, Texas, a man surveys overturned vehicles and shattered trees along the Guadalupe River. Flash floods rose with violent speed, leaving devastation and reminders of nature’s unyielding power.
Location: Kerrville, Texas, USA
Date: July 5, 2025
Photographer: Ronaldo Schemidt
Title: Grandma’s House
Description: In Porto Alegre, Brazil, floodwaters swallowed neighborhoods, leaving homes like this one abandoned and broken. Each empty room carries the weight of loss and the memory of family life washed away.
Location: Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Date: April 29, 2024
Photographer: Estephani Azevedo
Title: Missing on the Riverbank
Description: Priest Ezequiel walks through the ruins of his church in Passo de Estrela, where floods destroyed 600 homes. Across Rio Grande do Sul, 183 lives were lost in the disaster.
Location: Passo de Estrela, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Date: August 6, 2024
Photographer: Mateus Bruxel
Title: Rescue from the Inferno
Description: In Mahlaing , an elderly man was trapped as wildfire swept toward his home. A rescue team reached him in time, embodying both human fragility and resilience in the face of climate-driven disaster.
Location: Mahlaing , Mandalay Division, Myanmar
Date: August 27, 2024
Photographer: Aung Kyaw Zaw
Title: The Fight for Water
Description: In Bojonegoro , drought has dried vital water sources, sparking a clean water crisis. People struggle for access, while rising health risks underscore the human toll of climate change.
Location: Bojonegoro , Indonesia
Date: October 27, 2024
Photographer: Wahyu Budiyanto
Title: When Water Turns Against Us
Description: In Isparta , water—the essence of life—can also bring despair. This scene reflects both its power to sustain and its capacity to disrupt lives when balance is lost.
Location: Isparta , Turkey
Date: December 15, 2024
Photographer: Mehmet Yilmaz
Title: Seaweed Against the Tide
Description: In Nusa Lembongan , seaweed farmers cultivate one of nature’s climate allies, absorbing CO₂. Yet their work faces mounting threats from rising seas, warming waters, and ocean acidification.
Location: Nusa Lembongan , Indonesia
Date: February 11, 2025
Photographer: Nadège Delalieu
Title: Trapped by Rising Waters
Description: In Mahajanga, Madagascar, heavy rains turned streets into rivers. Families were trapped inside their homes as floodwaters surged; one person lost their life in the disaster.
Location: Mahajanga, Madagascar
Date: March 1, 2025
Photographer: Cem Genco
Title: Buried by the Mountain
Description: A sudden landslide engulfed vehicles on Jhyaple Khola along the Tribhuvan Highway, killing 35 people. The tragedy revealed the deadly force of natural disasters in Nepal’s fragile mountain terrain.
Location: Jhyaple Khola , Tribhuvan Highway, Kathmandu–Dhading border, Nepal
Date: September 25, 2024
Photographer: Dipendra Dhungana
Title: Greening the Future
Description: A wildlife bridge in Singapore blends architecture and ecology. Innovative green design demonstrates how cities can adapt to climate challenges while improving quality of life.
Location: Singapore City, Singapore
Date: June 20, 2024
Photographer: Mansour Mohsen
Title: After the Cold Drop
Description: A woman walks past stacked, wrecked cars after torrential rains from Storm DANA inundated Paiporta , near Valencia. The storm left widespread destruction across Spain’s eastern coast.
Location: Paiporta , Valencia, Spain
Date: November 4, 2024
Photographer: Guillermo Gutierrez Carrascal
Title: California Wildfires
Description: The Palisades Fire tears through homes in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, fueled by fierce winds. The blaze highlights California’s growing struggle against climate-driven wildfires.
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Date: January 7, 2025
Photographer: Ethan Swope
Slide title
© Lance Padiernos – Philippines
2020 Photography 4 Humanity Global Prize Submission
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SEEKING THE BEST CLIMATE JUSTICE PHOTOGRAPHY
The 2025 Global Contest promotes climate justice. We believe climate change is a human rights issue, so we are looking for images that show people impacted by the escalating climate crisis. They include climate refuges, the very young, the very old, the disabled and injured, the poor, indigenous and island people, and women. Images of climate champions advocating for change, and those helping to mitigate and reverse climate change are welcome.
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GLOBAL PARTNER
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