$1,000,000 up for grabs in world's richest photography contest

HIPA 2025 theme announcement.

With a breathtaking $1,000,000 prize fund, the Hamdan International Photography Awards are now open for entries. The theme for this year's HIPA contest is Power - with the Grand Prize winner receiving a cash award of US$200,000 for the best overall image on the subject.

Now in its 14th year, this free-to-enter contest is renowned as the world's richest photography competition, thanks to last year's doubling of the cash prize pool, bringing the total prize value to an impressive US$1 million.

Founded in 2011 under the patronage of the crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid bin Mohammed al Maktoum, the HIPA awards are open to any photographer, professional or amateur from anywhere in the world aged 18 or over.

Alongside the main Power theme, separate prizes will be awarded for the best drone videos and the best story-telling portfolio of stills. Separate prizes for sports photography and color and black-and-white images will also be awarded.

Entries to the competition must be submitted before May 31, 2025. To see the full details and to enter the competition, see the HIPA 2025 website.

Previous HIPA grand prize winners

2024: Chinese photographer Liping Cao has won the grand prize on the theme of Sustainability. Entitled ‘Quiet Power’, the images shows a wind farm on the shores of Lake George, New South Wales, under some moody clouds and is an interesting juxtaposition of the power of nature and renewable energy. (Image credit: Liping Cao)

2023: Massimo Giorgetta from Italy won the grand prize with his image of 'a magical 5cm Jellyfish Tunicate that is filled and covered by other marine creatures; like a miniature diverse ecosystem'. (Image credit: Massimo Giorgetta)

2022: British photographer Henley Spiers won with a dramatic underwater image of a gannet (Image credit: Henley Spiers / HIPA)

2020: Grand Prize Winner won Australian photographer Jasmine Carey $120,000 for her touching underwater image of a mother humpback whale with its calf . (Image credit: Jasmine Carey )

2019: Malaysian photographer Edwin Ong Wee Kee won the 2019 Grand Prize on the theme of Hope. (Image credit: Edwin Ong Wee Kee)

2018: HIPA 2018 Grand Prize Winner Mohamed Alrageb won the $120,000 Grand Prize with a shot showing a fellow photojournalist running with an injured child in the aftermath of a car bomb in Aleppo, with his camera still in hand. (Image credit: Mohamed Alrageb )