The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has invited Pakistanis to participate in the ECO International Mobile Photography Festival 2026 and showcase the country’s cultural heritage through mobile photography. The competition is open to both amateur and professional photographers, with participants required to be at least 15 years old.
The festival, titled “Our Heritage,” is being organized by the ECO Cultural Institute (ECI). This year’s theme is “Passing on Heritage,” which focuses on traditions, skills, customs and cultural knowledge passed from one generation to another. Each participant can submit up to three photographs, with every photo judged separately.
Who Can Participate and What They Can Capture
Citizens of all 10 ECO member countries can take part, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Both amateur and professional photographers are eligible to submit entries.
Participants can capture different forms of cultural heritage, including traditional handicrafts such as carpet weaving, embroidery and pottery. Photos can also cover folk music, traditional ceremonies, customs, farming knowledge, storytelling, poetry and oral traditions, giving entrants a wide range of subjects to explore across their communities.
Submission Rules, Deadline and Prizes
All photographs must be taken with a mobile phone camera, as photos captured with DSLR, mirrorless, compact or action cameras, as well as drones, will not be accepted. The organizers have also banned AI-generated images and AI-based editing that changes the actual content of a photograph, though basic adjustments to brightness, exposure, contrast, white balance, color, sharpness and noise are allowed, along with cropping that does not alter the original content.
Photos must be submitted in JPEG or PNG format, with the shortest side of each image at least 2,000 pixels and a maximum file size of 10 MB. Photos containing watermarks, signatures, logos or text will not be accepted. Applicants must provide their personal details, nationality, country and city of residence, email address and phone number, along with an English title, a description of up to 100 words, and the location and date for each photograph.
The deadline to submit photographs is September 12, 2026. The jury will evaluate entries from September 13 to September 23, with winners scheduled to be announced on September 24, 2026. The closing ceremony and physical exhibition of selected photographs will take place on October 4, followed by the opening of an online gallery on October 5. The first, second and third-place winners will receive trophies, certificates of honor and cash prizes, and their photographs will be published in the festival catalogue, while a separate Certificate of Recognition will be awarded to the highest-ranked eligible photograph from each ECO member country. Participants can submit their entries through the official ECO Cultural Institute website or by email as detailed in the festival guidelines.
The festival gives young Pakistanis a low-cost way to take part in an international cultural exchange, since all that is required is a smartphone rather than expensive camera equipment. Universities and colleges are expected to encourage students to apply, particularly those studying visual arts, media studies, tourism and cultural heritage, as the competition offers both recognition and an opportunity to have work featured in an international catalogue and exhibition. HEC has previously partnered with regional bodies on similar creative and academic exchange programs, and this photography festival continues that pattern of encouraging Pakistani students and young professionals to engage with broader ECO region initiatives centered on shared cultural identity and heritage preservation. Interested applicants are advised to review the full eligibility criteria and submission guidelines on the ECO Cultural Institute’s official website well before the September 12 deadline. Early planning can help entrants capture stronger, more thoughtful images before time runs out.
