2024 Global Development Photo Contest

Share your perspective on global development, from innovative solutions to global challenges, to the everyday resilience and creativity of people around the world. Submit your best photos to the King Center's Global Development Photo Contest.

The King Center photo contest spotlights the Stanford community’s diverse and dynamic insights, experiences and perspectives into all aspects of global development. With your help, we uniquely showcase images from learning, research, and travel experiences in low- and middle-income countries, spanning multidisciplinary topics from public health to sustainability, and much more.

Prizes include tickets to exciting concerts, performances and sports events on campus, generously donated by Stanford Live and Stanford Athletics.

Winners of the 2024 Global Development Photo Contest

Jennifer Paterson-Marke, Learning and Evaluation Associate, Center on Early Childhood

4 children are placing items in envelopes pasted to a wall; above the envelopes in big text is "Be Kind to One Another".

Tema, Ghana

"As part of Wellness Week, teachers and pupils at Beacon College International, Ghana, encouraged acts of kindness."

Sergio Sanchez, PhD '26, Environment and Resources

2 men are pushing a boat out on a lake, with two large mountains behind them in the landscape.

El Remanso, Guainía, Colombia

"Two fishermen moving their boat upstream as the current was to strong to navigate with the motor. I was traveling with them to see their fish and see how they interact with their nearby wetland ecosystem. Behind them are the iconic Mavicure mountains."

Linda Zhang, MBA '26

Six fishermen forming a line and holding a long net on the beach, with four of them standing in the water.

Freetown, Sierra Leone

"Groups of fishermen harvest their daily catch on Lumley Beach on the coast of Sierra Leone. They have no fancy fishing equipment or tools, just a single large net and a dozen of men who employ the most basic technique in an age of modern agriculture and fishery."

Runners-Up of the 2024 Global Development Photo Contest

Tianhao Hou, PhD '29, Sociology

Santa Rosa, Yaquerana, Requena, Loreto, Peru

"As a sociologist, my curiosity about life in the world’s most remote corners led me to the Matsés, an indigenous tribe nestled deep within the Peruvian Amazon. For ten days, I lived alongside them in one of their most secluded villages, where, despite only making permanent contact with the outside world 55 years ago, they continue to safeguard their ancient traditions, even as the encroaching modern world casts its shadow. In this photo, an elderly woman works with quiet devotion, weaving local plant leaves to craft the door of the Maloca—the ancestral longhouse that has sheltered her people for generations."

Anna Vdovina, PhD '28, Economics

Reserva nacional Los Flamencos, Atacama Desert, Chile

"I was absolutely mesmerized by nature's undisturbed beauty and complete serenity, it felt like time itself stopped. It also made me feel hopeful about the relationship between humans and our planet - there may be no people in this photo but lots of work by activists, climatologists, and policymakers was done to ensure this magical place could be preserved untouched."