THE CONTEST

The United Nations General Assembly has designated 20 May as World Bee Day (WBD).
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the coordinating agency for the preparation and animation of this celebration, is organizing a photo contest (the “Contest”) within the framework of “World Bee Day 2025”.

BEE INSPIRED BY NATURE TO NOURISH US ALL is the theme of World Bee Day 2025

This photo contest aims to raise awareness about the critical role of bees and other pollinators in sustaining both ecosystems and agrifood systems worldwide. By learning from nature and safeguarding pollinators, we can achieve a harmonious balance between productivity and sustainability, ensuring long-term food security for a growing global population. 

Participants are invited to submit photographs that highlight the intricate relationship between pollinators, biodiversity, and agrifood systems. Photos may showcase bees (and other pollinators) in action, their habitats, or innovative practices — such as Indigenous Peoples’ food and knowledge systems or modern solutions — designed to support pollinators’ health and ecosystems. 

The contest seeks visual stories that celebrate the essential contributions of pollinators to agrifood systems, environmental sustainability, rural livelihoods, and cultures.

Participants are asked to submit:

I. A photo that showcases the relationship between bees (and other pollinators), biodiversity, and agrifood systems. This can include (but not limited to) photos of pollinators in action, their habitats or innovative practices that support pollinators’ health and ecosystems

II. The filled out online entry form in English, providing a description of what the photo represents, where it was taken, and how it relates to the theme of pollinators’ critical role in sustaining ecosystems and agrifood systems.

Entries will be judged on originality, relevance to the theme, artistic value, and the communication potential of the photo.

Photographs should not include dates or text superimposed within the frame. All photographs must be in JPEG or JPG format and should have a resolution of at least 3000 pixels in width. Entrants are encouraged to include metadata information in the IPTC fields within the images (description, location, date photo was taken, name of photographer). The content of an image must not be altered (adding, moving or eliminating elements within a frame, for example, is not allowed), but basic image retouching is permitted (contrast, brightness, etc.)

The Contest includes three categories:  

• General Public: Entrants aged 18 years and above
• Empowering Rural Women: Open to entrants of all ages. Focuses on the role of rural women in sustainable beekeeping and pollinators protection.
• Indigenous Peoples’s Food and Knowledge Systems: Open to entrants of all ages. Highlights the contributions of Indigenous Peoples to conservation and sustainable use of pollinators (including beekeeping with indigenous bees, Indigenous Peoples’ cosmogonies related to bees and other pollinators, Indigenous Peoples’ diverse uses of bee related products...) 
  

RULES

The Contest is open only to individuals (“Entrants”). The age to declare is that at the time of entering the Contest. FAO employees and their immediate family members (spouses, parents, children, siblings and their respective spouses, regardless of where they live) or people living in the same households of such employees, whether or not related, are not eligible to enter the Contest. FAO will determine eligibility at its sole discretion.

Entrants must submit to the Contest original works for which they are the sole creator and copyright holder. FAO respects your rights and does not claim ownership or copyright for works you submit to this contest; you will retain full ownership and copyright to each entry. Additionally, your moral rights are respected. You will be credited where possible and to the extent feasible whenever your work is published by FAO. Photo credit will appear on the published photo as follows: ©First and last name of photographer. Failure to publish a credit due to error or oversight shall not be deemed a breach of this condition.

FAO will not be responsible for any claim or complaints alleging violation of the rights of third parties.

In order to protect personal data, if the photo contains images of a person or persons, Entrants must have obtained the permission of those persons, or if such person or persons are under the age of 18, of their respective parent or legal guardian, for submission of their photo to the Contest, as well as for the use of the photo as described herein. FAO will not be responsible for any claim or complaints alleging violation of personal data of third parties.

By entering the Contest, Entrants grant FAO a non-exclusive, irrevocable, free and perpetual license throughout the world to reproduce, distribute to third-parties, display, share and create derivative works of the entries in connection with the Contest and the promotion of FAO’s work. The entries may be used for:

• Display on the FAO corporate website (www.fao.org) and FAO social media channels.
• Display at public exhibitions to promote the Contest or the work of FAO and its partners.
• Display in a book, documentation, videos or any other media for non-commercial use to promote the work of FAO and its partners.
• Publications including posters, postcards and calendars to promote the work of FAO and its partners
• Cropping and re-sizing, as necessary, to fit pre-defined formats to promote the work of FAO and its partners.
• Distribution to the press for reproduction in connection with the Contest and any related media release on WBD.
• Distribution to third parties.

FAO will not pay any fees for, nor pay any costs relating to, the entry of the photograph(s) in the Contest or for their use as described above.

FAO reserves the right to verify the eligibility of any entry and/or Entrant (including an Entrant’s identity and address) and to disqualify any Entrant who submits an entry that is not in accordance with these rules or who tampers with the entry process.

DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY NOTICE FOR PHOTO CONTEST

FAO is committed to processing personal data fairly, with integrity, responsibility, security, and transparency in accordance with its internal data protection rules and policies.

FAO collects and processes your personal data for the purposes of managing the entries to Contest as well as accurately describing (i.e. captioning) and crediting the photographs. The data may also be used by FAO to verify the Entrant’s identity, postal address and telephone number or to otherwise verify the Entrant’s eligibility to participate in the Contest.

FAO may share your personal data with selected third parties (duly authorized partners or service providers) to perform services for FAO based on the above purpose.

FAO makes every effort to ensure that those third parties afford a level of protection and safeguards that are the same as or comparable to FAO.

If you have any questions or concern related to your personal data processed by FAO, please contact us at [email protected]. Please also read The FAO Data Protection and Privacy Notice for more information about how FAO processes your personal data.

By submitting entries to the Contest, Entrants agree with the above Personal Data and Privacy Notice and hereby provide consent to the personal data, especially name and address, may be processed, shared and otherwise used for the purposes outlined in these Rules. FAO is not responsible for any entries not received due to internet or software failures.

Nothing in the Rules for this Contest, nor any acts performed, or statements made in relation to this Contest, shall be deemed a waiver, express or implied, of any of the privileges and immunities of FAO.

PROCESS AND SELECTION CRITERIA

The Contest opens at 12:00 Central European Time (CET) on 14 March 2025 and closes at 12:00 CET on 14 April 2025. Entries received after the deadline will not be considered.

After the deadline for submissions has expired, FAO will select for each category, at its sole discretion, the winners based on the following criteria: originality, relevance to the theme, artistic value and communication potential.

The winners will be notified by email using the contact details provided with the entry. In the event that the selected winners are ineligible, cannot be traced or do not respond within ten (10) days to a winner notification as required by the Contest Rules above, or refuse the prize, the prize will be forfeited, and it will be up to the sole discretion of the FAO Jury to choose whether to award the prize to another eligible entry.

The winners of the Contest will be publicly announced on 20 May 2025, World Bee Day. 

ACCEPTANCE
By submitting entries to the Contest, the Entrant confirms that the Rules for this Contest, as set out above, have been read, understood and agreed to by the Entrant or their respective parent or legal guardian.

PRIZE
For each category, a prize will be awarded to the Entrant submitting the winning photo. The prize for the outright winners will consist of a certificate of recognition signed by FAO and a collection of FAO merchandise including a backpack, water bottle and notebook. The prize for the Contest may not be substituted, replaced or otherwise modified.

Selected winners and the runners-up will have an opportunity for their photos to be exhibited at the venue of the World Bee Day celebration in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  

GENERAL INFORMATION
FAO is an agency of the United Nations specializing in the sectors of food and agriculture, with the goal of eradicating hunger. There are a total of 194 member nations, one member organization (European Union) and two associate members (Faroe Islands and Tokelau) in the Organization, working together to achieve food security for all. FAO’s mandate is to improve nutrition, increase agricultural productivity, raise the standard of living in rural populations and contribute to global economic growth.

In the context of this mandate, FAO produces communication and information materials to raise awareness about key issues in food and agriculture and to achieve its goal of ending global hunger. FAO’s communication materials are available in many languages and distributed worldwide free of charge for non-commercial purposes. Examples of its materials can be found on FAO’s website: www.fao.org.

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 20 May World Bee Day (WBD) in 2017. The Day celebrates and raises awareness of the importance of bees and other pollinators. On each World Bee Day, countries are encouraged to undertake local, national and international efforts to organize activities involving bees and pollinators.