UNESCO International Photo Contest "Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads"

As the visual arts, and in particular photography, are so often used by today’s youth as a powerful tool for communication and self-expression, images have the potential to play a significant role in raising awareness of the key issues facing our contemporary world and help promote peace and understanding. The photo contest provides an opportunity for young people to connect with one another in a digital space and share their creativity and vision for our future.

Organized within the framework of the UNESCO Silk Roads Programme of UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector, the 2025 edition of the Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest is open for entries from 26 May to 20 July 2025.

The Silk Roads are an expansive region composed of a network of maritime and land routes. Originating in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia the Silk Roads cross the Central Asian sub-continent, the Russian steppe, the Iranian and Anatolian plateaus, and the Arabian Peninsula. They also stretch through North Africa and Northeast Africa, from Tanzania to Morocco. Additionally, they pass through Eastern and Southern Europe, before reaching France and the Iberian Peninsula. 

The Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest is an opportunity for young people who live or have travelled within these regions to share their perceptions and further their understanding of the common cultural heritage and pluralistic identities emerging from the interactions and exchanges taking place along the Silk Roads. The contest encourages the use of photography to extend these cultural interactions and encounters in the contemporary world, to foster mutual understanding and promote peace amongst the diverse populations encompassed by the Silk Roads.

Age categories and theme:

The contest is divided into two age categories: 14–17 year olds and 18–25 year olds. For the 7th edition of the contest this year participants are invited to submit their photographs that best encapsulate the shared heritage of the Silk Roads the theme of "Women, Guardians of Silk Roads Heritage". The Selection Committee members will then examine these submissions and select the winners from each of the age categories.

Who We Are

In line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and within its mandate to foster intercultural dialogue and respect for cultural diversity, UNESCO promotes mutual understanding, intellectual solidarity, and international cooperation through education, science, culture and communication.

As part of this mission, UNESCO has developed various initiatives and projects – among them, the Silk Roads Programme.

The Silk Roads were an expansive network of communications that connected civilizations and brought peoples and cultures from across the world into contact with each other for thousands of years, permitting not only an exchange of goods but also an interaction of ideas and cultures that has shaped our world today.

In response to this enduring legacy, the UNESCO's Silk Roads Programme aims to revive these historic networks by encouraging dialogue and deepening understanding among the diverse cultures that flourished along these routes.

Main Initiatives

The first major initiative was the Integral Study of the Silk Roads: Roads of Dialogue (1988–1997), which explored the cultural exchanges between peoples of different regions along the historic routes. In 2013, UNESCO launched the Silk Roads Online Platform, an interactive initiative aimed at raising awareness of the shared cultural heritage of the Silk Roads and encouraging intercultural dialogue and development.

To support academic engagement, the Silk Roads Youth Research Grant was launched in 2021. Each edition, 12 grants are awarded to young researchers aged 35 and under to explore topics linked to the shared history and legacy of the Silk Roads.

UNESCO is also currently developing a Thematic Collection of the Cultural Exchanges along the Silk Roads, which documents the reciprocal influences and rich histories of cross-cultural interaction across the region. With two major publications released on "Textiles and Clothing" and on "Architecture, Monuments and Urbanism".

The Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads Photo Contest

Launched in 2018, this international photo contest offers young people aged 14-25 years old a platform to creatively express their perspectives on the Silk Roads' shared heritage. The first six editions received entries from over 100 countries.

After each edition of the contest, around 60 of the best photos from the contest appear in a professional photo album entitled "Youth Lens on the Silk Roads" and might be showcased in exhibitions held worldwide.

Past exhibitions of selected photographs have been held since 2018, in China, Oman, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, Türkiye, Qatar, Morocco, and at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

In 2023, to mark the 35th anniversary of the Silk Roads Programme, an outdoor exhibition showcased 140 outstanding photographs at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, in collaboration with the Beijing International Peace Culture Foundation.