The Embassy of Japan in Luxembourg has announced a call for participants for a photo contest in Japan aimed at secondary school students.
According to the embassy, the town of Higashikawa on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, known as “The Town of Photography”, is holding the 11th International High School Students' Photo Festival Exchange for secondary school students. The festival aims to promote international exchange among young people through photography.
Each participating country is represented by one school, with three students and one teacher travelling to Hokkaido to take part in the festival.
To select the Luxembourg participants, the Embassy of Japan in Luxembourg will organise a national preliminary contest with the support of the Fédération Luxembourgeoise de la Photographie Artistique (FLPA).
The theme of this year’s contest is “The Charm of Your Region”. Students from 4ème to 1ère in secondary schools or equivalent educational institutions in Luxembourg are eligible to participate.
Applications must be submitted via the participating school, as only one team (three students and one teacher) from each school can apply. Applications should be sent by email to the Culture Section of the Embassy of Japan in Luxembourg (culture.embjapan@lx.mofa.go.jp) and to the secretariat in Higashikawa. The deadline for applications is Friday 15 May 2026 at 10:00 (Luxembourg time).
The application form and contest rules are available at: https://higashikawa-youth-fest.jp/.
The organisers also noted that travel costs between Luxembourg and Asahikawa Airport must be covered privately this year. In addition, the use of generative AI or similar tools in the photo submissions is strictly prohibited.
Last year, Luxembourg achieved notable success at the festival. In August 2025, a team of three students from the European School I in Luxembourg won the Bronze Award with their photo series “Joys of Labour”, which portrayed local Japanese people in their daily work.
