Photography Contest

Each year, Penn Institute for Urban Research hosts an annual photo contest on an urban-focused topic. The contest is open to the public and winning photographs shared with Penn IUR Urban Link subscribers and on social media.

Call for Submissions: 2026 Penn IUR Global Photo Contest

So Pyay Lynn Floating Market of Inle Lake, Myanmar
Gallery February 18, 2026
2026 Photography Contest: Sharing and Caring Cities - Portraits of Collective Urban Life

The Penn Institute for Urban Research invites photographers and visual storytellers around the world to enter our 10th annual photo contest: Sharing and Caring Cities: Portraits of Collective Urban Life.

Urban Development
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All Galleries

Gallery February 18, 2026 2026 Photography Contest: Sharing and Caring Cities - Portraits of Collective Urban Life The Penn Institute for Urban Research invites photographers and visual storytellers around the world to enter our 10th annual photo contest: Sharing and Caring Cities: Portraits of Collective Urban Life. Urban Development
Gallery May 22, 2025 2025 Photography Contest: Gather - The Power of Place-based Connection Luke Walter is the Grand Prize Winner for the 2025 Photo Contest "Gather" for his photograph Newark Skaters, an evocative scene of urban connection captured in a public park in Newark, New Jersey. Urban Development
Gallery December 12, 2023 2023 Photography Contest: Urban Nature Penn IUR is pleased to announce the winner of its 8th Annual Photography Contest: “Wetland for All” by Amitava Chandra. Climate Change & Resilience
Gallery December 5, 2022 2022 Photography Contest: Thriving For the seventh year, Penn IUR held a photography contest to capture the experience of cities around the world. The theme in 2022, “Thriving,” drew attention to the resilience of urban places and people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic Urban Development
Gallery August 19, 2021 2021 Photography Contest: Civic Engagement As part of the University’s 2020-2021 academic theme year, Penn IUR held a photo contest on civic engagement in cities around the world. Participants were asked to capture the ways that urban community engagement has adapted to altered social circumstances and working conditions amid a year of unprecedented public need. 
Gallery October 27, 2020 2020 Photography Contest: Cities and Contagion As part of its Cities and Contagion: Lessons from COVID-19 initiative, Penn IUR held a photo contest on the impact of the pandemic on cities around the world. Participants were asked to capture the ways that urban places have adapted in both planned and unexpected ways.
Gallery May 22, 2019 2019 Photography Contest: Urban Informality Penn IUR hosted a photo contest on the theme of urban informality, inviting people around the world to submit images that capture the ways that people in urban areas create or use informal systems to survive and thrive.  Rapid Urbanization
Gallery April 17, 2017 2017 Photography Contest: Urbanization and Migration The Penn Institute for Urban Research, in collaboration with the Center for Public Health Initiatives, is pleased to announce the winner of its photo contest on the theme of public health and the urban environmental landscape. 
Gallery February 25, 2016 2016 Photography Contest: Urban Health and the Environmental Landscape The Penn Institute for Urban Research, in collaboration with the Center for Public Health Initiatives, is pleased to announce the winner of its photo contest on the theme of public health and the urban environmental landscape.

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