Celebrating 10 Years Of The World Sight Day Photo Competition

Celebrating a decade of powerful storytelling through the lens. Since its launch, thousands of compelling images have captured the people, places, and moments that show why eye health matters. This special gallery brings together not only past winners but also standout entries from over the years — each one a vivid reminder of the impact of eye care.

  • Compassion and Hope
    Photo Caption: A widow and visually impaired mother never gives up caring for her son. They belong to the Jahai tribe found in the secluded forest of Royal Belum in Malaysia.
    Photo Credit: ZON HISHAM BIN ZAINAL ABIDIN for Usaha Bukan Kata Enterprise

  • Ophthalmic outreach in Ethiopia
    Photo Caption: After surgery screening at an ophthalmic outreach in Ethiopia
    Photo Credit: Ulrich Eigner For Light for the World 

  • Screening at a school in Sierra Leone
    Photo Caption: Child indicating the direction of a letter whilst screening at a school in Sierra Leone
    Photo Credit: Graham Coates for Vision Aid Overseas 

  • Bilateral congenital cataract
    Photo Caption: José Ignacio Aristiqui Torres, 11, lives with his grandparents in Yaguarón. He was operated on bilateral congenital cataract, nowadays he can do any activity and play with his friends.
    Photo Credit: Sergio Negrete for General hospital Gumel jigawa state

  • 3-year-old Mariya plays with a medical equipment
    Photo Caption: When Mariya was just two years old, her mother noticed a white spot in her left eye. Mariya seemed uncomfortable and was constantly scratching the eye. She was diagnosed with cataract. After was referred to the Orbis-supported Magrabi Eye Institute, she had a successful cataract surgery during an Orbis Flying Eye Hospital Programme in Yaounde. The bubbly three-year-old started school a few weeks after her surgery.
    Photo Credit: Louis Leeson for Orbis 

  • At second sight
    Photo Caption: A grand mother who finally received her pair of eye glasses... her grand daughter is the first persons she sees at her second sight
    Photo Credit: Gold Owen for Avalanche of hope

  • SBVC
    Photo Caption: Child patiently awaits eye examination during Children\'s Sight Week in Santa Barbara, California.
    Photo Credit: Paolena Comouche for Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International

  • Goggle Man
    Photo Caption: This shot was taken in Pushkar fair, India. as a documentary photographer, I travel to many places to capture environmental portraits and document them. The moment when I saw this old man was struggling with his eyes I went to the men and he told me that his eyes are bad from many days. I clicked a photo and gave him a glasses gifted.
    Photo Credit: Abhay Patel for picfie photography society

  • Edina Mboje learns her Sight Will be Restored
    Photo Caption: Edina Mboje ran a restaurant in her remote village in central Tanzania until her vision was clouded by cataract. Her husband and son helped out as much as they could, but eventually they had to shut down the restaurant, leaving Edina at home during the day while her husband worked in the fields and her son walked to school in a nearby town. This photo was taken at the moment that Edina was told by a visiting ophthalmologist that her condition was treatable, and that she would have her sight restored the following day at the nearby hospital. Edina\'s surgery was successful, and she has since returned to her village where she is helping her husband in the field, assisting her son with his studies, and preparing to reopen the family restaurant business.
    Photo Credit: Joe Raffanti for Seva Foundation

  • Eye bond
    Photo Caption: This photo was taken during an Ophthalmology Campaign at small Mamuel Choique village, Río Negro province in Argentina. Gabriela is a pediatric ophthalmologist who volunteers regularly for our foundation campaigns which help to restore sight to poor population of Rio Negro\'s countryside.
    Photo Credit: Mariana Bettanin for 100 Caminos Foundation

  • Hope
    Photo Caption: 54-year-old female diabetic blind for 4 years with white cataracts now 20/20 ou
    Photo Credit: Michael Schoenfeld for Eye Corps

  • Caught by her gaze
    Photo Caption: No health care an education for the children in the hamlet on the Mekong-river in Lao
    Photo Credit: Lia Marmelstein for Eye Care Foundation 

  • Seeing is Believing
    Photo Caption: The photo was taken the day after her cataract surgery when the eye patch was removed. She could not contain her joy when she could see again. Both her eyes had cataracts, and for 3 years, she had lost her sight. When all hope had been lost, her daughter-in-law heard about Norton Eye Unit run by Council for the Blind Zimbabwe where such critical eye services are offered for a fraction of the cost. In a country where the health sector is dilapidated, a successful cataract operation is indeed a milestone. Such a service by CFB should be accessible to many if not all.
    Photo Credit: Micheal Mhlanga for Council for the Blind- Zimbabwe 

  • Blindness has no age
    Photo Caption: The cornea is our window to the world. If it is injured or if a corneal disease is present, people are at risk of going blind – even at a young age. While other diseases can be treated with the help of simpler therapies, medications or glasses, the situation with an injured cornea is much more complex. The only way out: a corneal transplant, donated by a deceased person - a therapy that is almost impossible to achieve for many people. Yet it is all a matter of organization, legal regulation and support from politics and society. Major obstacles that can only be overcome together.
    Photo Credit: Nathalie Kramer for DGFG - German Society for Tissue Transplantation gGmbH 

  • The Laughter of Mother and Daughter
    Photo Caption: Ayesha and her mother live in a place next to the garbage dump of the city.  Every parent wants their child to be a princess, Ayesha's mother also decorated her like a princess with flowers.  Her mother's wish is that Ayesha will one day grow up and study well and become established to end their sad day.  They burst out laughing when I tried to take their picture.  They were very happy when I showed them after taking the picture.
    Photo Credit: Md. Shahriar Joy 

  • Eye to Eye
    Photo Caption: Grandmother lifting her granddaughter to see her eye to eye and in close contact with her love.
    Photo Credit: Carlo Zamora

  • Happy Faces
    Photo Caption: Both mothers from old age homes expressing happiness after the free cataract surgery.
    Photo Credit: Sunita Kunwar KC for Nepal Eye Program/Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology 

  • Going to school
    Photo Caption: The girl is happy because she is going to school in new clothes
    Photo Credit: Saiful Islam 

  • Better Sight, Better World
    Photo Caption: An old man wearing his glasses and enjoying a clear sight
    Photo Credit: KKESH Health Education Department 

  • The Eyes Have It
    Photo Caption: I tried to portray the joy of educating reflecting through the eyes of these three innocent girls
    Photo Credit: Arpan Chowdhury

  • Visual acuity screening
    Photo Caption: Visual acuity screening in Cameroonian´s Pygmies
    Photo Credit: Azahara Sanchez

  • A happy little girl
    Photo Caption: A happy little girl seeing her mother restoring sight
    Photo Credit: Sunita Kunwar K.C.

  • Stronger Together
    Photo Caption: Stronger Together
    Photo Credit: Leticia Valarolo

  • Children enjoying
    Photo Caption: Children enjoying the school with their eye glasses
    Photo Credit: Edgardo Contreras for Fundación Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor

  • SeeAbility’s Dispensing Optician
    Photo Caption: SeeAbility’s Dispensing Optician is fitting Evan’s glasses in his special school part of the charity’s Children in Focus research sight testing programme.
    Photo Credit: Anca Popescu for SeeAbility

  • Tashi Yanzon with her granddaughters
    Photo Caption: “I began to lose my sight two years ago. I couldn’t go anywhere without my granddaughters. I just wanted to be able to see my grandchildren, and my village again." Tashi Yanzon was one of more than 260 people who had their sight restored at a four-day eye camp in Ladakh, India.
    Photo Credit: Daniel Jesus Vignolli for The Fred Hollows Foundation

  • A child surprised
    Photo Caption: A child surprised to see clearly after wearing new glasses
    Photo Credit: Nguyen Thi Quynh Nhu for Helen Keller International

  • The Unconditional Bond: Parental Love and the Gift of Sight
    Photo Caption: "The love that parents feel for their children is an immeasurable force that guides them to provide the best for their child in every way. Ensuring that children have healthy eyes and good vision is just one part of the broader role parents play in nurturing their child’s growth. Through this love and care, parents help their children build a foundation for a life full of opportunities, experiences, and success."
    Photo Credit: Jamshyd Masud for The Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust

  • From darkness to light
    Photo Caption: "At 42, Emmanuel Mensah, a skilled carpenter in Ghana, faced darkness after a nail struck his right eye while repairing a roof. ​Emmanuel was effectively left with one functional eye whose vision had recently started deteriorating. He said he could barely see the head of the nail, impeding his work and scattering his income. He received his first pair of near-vision glasses and his world suddenly lit up again. He is back to work beaming with a smile."
    Photo Credit: Collins Agyei Agyapong for VIsionSpring

  • We Love Our Eyes!
    Photo Caption: "The boys are really enjoying the paper eyeglasses, capturing their moment after being examined during a screening campaign provided to children on World Sight Day at the hospital."
    Photo Credit: Abdullah Almajed for King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital

  • We cannot see or read books without eyes
    Photo Caption: Your eyes shine bright like the sun.” It sounds really sweet when you compare a person's eyes to something else that's already bright and radiant. “Your eyes are bright jewels twinkling in the light.” Try saying emeralds when you're describing green eyes or sapphires for someone with blue eyes.
    Photo Credit: Rayhan Ahmed

  • Vision of Empowerment
    Photo Caption: "A worker at a ready-made garments factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh beams with happiness after receiving much-needed treatment and a new pair of eyeglasses from VisionSpring. With clear vision restored, the worker feels empowered to continue their craft with renewed confidence and precision. The main objective of VisionSpring's Clear Vision Workplaces (CVW) program is to provide vision screenings and affordable eyeglasses to workers in low and middle-income countries, helping them correct refractive errors, improve productivity, and contribute to economic growth."
    Photo Credit: Joy Saha