This year’s contest will run from March 17-28, 2025. We do not have a specific theme this year, but rather welcome your beautiful and engaging photos from your travels around the world, country, city and campus.

Please visit the Global Programs Photo Contest Archives to view the past 12 years of beautiful finalist images.

The Contest

All members of the BU community (students, faculty, staff, alumni) are eligible to submit up to three photos per person.

For each image submitted please include a brief description of the photo (two to three sentences max) including where it was taken, country, city, town or landmark). This information will be used if we display your photos, but not as a judging criteria.

How to Enter

• Submit your photos here when submissions open from March 17-28 at noon, 2025.

Other Ways to Participate

• Follow @buglobalprograms Instagram account
• Tag your photo “2025GPPhotoContest”
• Follow other photographers
• Engage with photos others have posted
• Vote in the People’s Choice category

Submission Guidelines

Photos must adhere to the following technical requirements in order to be eligible to win prizes:

• Quantity: each person can submit up to three photographs
• File types: jpeg, png, pdf, or tiff
• DPI size: must be 300 dpi or higher (should be a large file size in MB, not KB)
• Dimensions: must be at least 4″ x 6″

Judging

There will be two grand prize winners. The winning photos will be featured on the Global Programs website, and BU Today (along with runners up).  All photos may be used online, in print publications, or displayed on campus.

2025 Judged Panel

Photos will be judged by a panel from Global Programs and guest judges from BU. Panel judging will be completed before People’s Choice judging begins.

People’s Choice

Starting March 31, we will post the 16 finalist photos. From March 31 to April 4, you may vote once per day for your top choices.

Round 1: Beginning at 12 noon (EST) on March 31, 2025 the entire BU community (Kerberos password and BU login required to cast vote*) will be able to vote here for your favorite 8 photos from the 16 Global Programs Photo Contest finalists. The first round of voting will close at 9:00 AM EST on April 1 2025.

Round 2: Beginning at 12 noon (EST) on April 1, 2025, return here to cast your votes for your favorite 4. Round 2 voting will close at 9:00 AM EST on April 2, 2025.

Round 3: Beginning at 12 noon (EST) on April 2, 2025, return here to cast your votes for your favorite 2. Round 3 voting will close at 9:00 AM EST on April 3, 2025.

Final Round: Beginning at 12 noon (EST) on April 3, 2025, return here to cast your vote for your winning choice from the two finalists. Final Round voting will close at 9:00 AM EST on April 4, 2025.

*You MUST have a BU login and Kerberos to cast a vote and you can only vote once in each round for the People’s Choice. If you choose to vote, you may vote in any or all rounds. You are not required to vote in all rounds.

Winners from the 2025 Judged Panel and People’s Choice will be announced on Monday April 7, 2025 via a campus wide email from Global Programs. The same photo cannot win both the Judged and People’s Choice categories. If after all the voting is complete and it appears the Judged and People’s Choice first place finishers are the same, the second place finisher in the Judged category will be awarded first place in that category. All judging, both People’s Choice and 2025 Judged are blind, the photographer, BU affiliation (school college, faculty, staff, student, alumni and location) will not be shared during voting.

Prizes

Each category winner will choose one prize, either:

GoPro Hero 13 Waterproof action camera with 5.3K60 Video, 27 MP Photo & compatibility with HB-series lenses + Quick Release Head Strap Mount + Chest Mount Harness + Backpack Clip holder + 360 Rotating Wrist Strap + GoPro Dual Battery Charger & 2 Enduro Rechargeable Batteries (Hero 13 Black) + SanDisk 512GB Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter – Up to 190MB/s, C10, U3, V30, 4K, 5K, A2, Micro SD Card – SDSQXAV-512G-GN6MA + Jaws Flex Clamp Mount Gooseneck Clip Mount Compatible with GoPro Hero 13  + Lekufee Waterproof Hard Case Compatible with Gopro Hero 13

Value=$539.30

OR

Quest 3 512GB + Active Strap

Value= $539.30

Submissions Accepted: March 17-28, 2025

Winners Announced via a Global Programs email to the entire BU Community on Monday April 7, 2025. We will also post the winners on Instagram and the Global Programs website.