Orbis International is a leading global non-profit dedicated to fighting blindness and saving sight worldwide. Since 1982, we have launched public health programs across the globe, famously home to the legendary "Flying Eye Hospital." To further spread our mission and celebrate compassion and social impact, Orbis is proud to launch the 2025 "Visionary" Youth Photography Competition. We are calling on young people everywhere to pick up a phone or camera, focus on the moments that move you, and capture the world through your lens. Share the powerful, everyday scenes from your life — be it with family, at school, among friends, or in your community. Show us the world as you see it.
Theme 1
Through the pure and passionate lens of youth, we invite you to use your phone or camera to capture the flow of kindness in everyday life. Freeze those moments that make your heart ache and eyes warm — not necessarily from grand, earth-shattering acts, but often from the quiet grace hidden in ordinary days. Share the story behind your image, and let the world see what moved you. Pass the love forward, and turn it into light that brightens lives.
Theme 2
Time to hunt for the weird, the funny, the unexpectedly cute! Whether it’s your pet being a goof, a friend’s hilarious expression, or something totally random that made you LOL — snap it! Add a funny caption or share what was going through your mind. Show off your unique view of the world. Let’s see what you find!
Late Oct, 2025
Nov 30, 2025
Dec 1 – Dec 4, 2025
Dec 5 – Dec 10, 2025
Dec 11 – Dec 20, 2025
Dec 31, 2025
certificate from Orbis International, plus prizes valued at approximately 3,000 RMB
certificate from Orbis International, plus prizes valued at approximately 1,500 RMB
certificate from Orbis International, plus prizes valued at approximately 1,000 RMB
Certificate from Orbis International
"Sight" is not something to be taken for granted. For every individual living with eye diseases or vision loss, their greatest longing is for "visible hope." On April 17, 2014, China’s first Orbis Flying Eye Hospital officially landed, bringing the gift of sight to countless patients.
Orbis Flying Eye Hospital Regional Caribbean Project - Kingston, Jamaica - March 25 to April 12, 2019
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - Accompanied by his mother, Bayarkhuu (age 3), an oculoplastics patient is prepped for surgery on the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital.
Geoff Oliver Bugbee / ORBIS Orbis 2020 - Book Project Edit Photo by Geoff Oliver Bugbee / Orbis
Orbis Flying Eye Hospital Program - Hanoi, Vietnam - May-June 2015 - Do Anh Bao, 8 months, clung with enthusiasm to Dr. James Brandt's finger while being examined in the pediatric glaucoma clinic during Week 2 of the Orbis Hanoi program.
Orbis Flying Eye Hospital Project - Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - August 12-30, 2018.—.Media consented patient #29485 — Khash-Erdene, age 7, flashed the ‘camera
Sarnai is a 4-year-old girl from a nomadic family living in the countryside. She presented with a hemangioma (benign tumor) that was removed from her inner eyelid in April of 2022 by Dr. Battsetseg at Mother and Child Hospital (MCH), an Orbis partner hospital, in Ulaanbaatar.
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (August 2024) — Nandig-Egshig (4) had bi-lateral congential cataracts. Her right eye was operated on with an IOL implant during a pediatric clinical week of training on the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital.
Sarnai is a 4-year-old girl from a nomadic family living in the countryside. She presented with a hemangioma (benign tumor) that was removed from her inner eyelid in April of 2022 by Dr. Battsetseg at Hospital (MCH), an Orbis partner hospital, in Ulaanbaatar.
Every photo submitted shines a light for those in need.
Since 2021, Orbis has partnered with global vision care company HOYA to reach more people with quality eye care and transform lives. HOYA offers financial support, equipment donations, and professional training to assist Orbis in promoting children's vision screening, glasses provision, and capacity building of eye care practitioners via Orbis's award-winning telemedicine and e-learning platform, Cybersight. HOYA's sustainability strategy, "One Vision" aims to integrate three pillars globally — environment, community, and workplace — and at the community level continues to advance eye health, volunteer screening, and vision awareness initiatives. In China, in 2023 HOYA Vision Care launched a child eye health project in collaboration with the Shanghai United Foundation to support Orbis China to carry out vision screening, training, and eye health education programs in rural China.
