Luis Valtueña International Humanitarian Photography Award 2026

Médicos del Mundo Spain's 30th annual award for documentary and photojournalistic series on health, humanitarian action, international cooperation, emergencies, social exclusion, migration, refuge, armed conflict, inequality or human rights violations — with particular value given to stories that receive little public coverage. Entry is free and anonymous: photographers submit a series of 5 to 10 images, at least half of them made between 2025 and 2026, with no name in the captions, project text or file names, and the jury assesses the work without knowing who made it. The €12,000 prize fund is split €6,000 to the winner and €2,000 each to second, third and fourth place, plus a €1,500 special prize from the Donostia Human Rights Film Festival awarded to one photograph from the winning series, which becomes the festival's 2027 image. Every selected series enters a touring exhibition and printed catalogue produced by Médicos del Mundo, which commits to promoting the photographers for at least a year; winners receive travel and two nights' accommodation for the award ceremony and exhibition opening in Madrid in January 2027. Only single-frame photographs are accepted, digital work must stay within technical correction, and photographers keep the rights to their images.