EUGLOH Photo contest 2026 - Framing Cognitive Accessibility in buildings and environments of the EUGLOH university campuses

1. Why is cognitive accessibility important?

Most people have experienced getting lost in a building, struggling to find a room, or feeling confused in an unfamiliar place.

Cognitive accessibility is about making places easy to understand and use. It’s essential for people with disabilities and an advantage to everyone.

Cognitive accessibility is different from physical accessibility! While physical accessibility focuses on reaching and using a place, cognitive accessibility focuses on understanding it.

A cognitively accessible building, street or public space helps people:

• know where they are;
• know where they need to go;
• understand how to use the environment;
• move around independently and confidently.

The goal is to ensure that everyone can understand and navigate spaces, regardless of their cognitive abilities. For more information, please watch the short video “The cognitive accessibility in one minute” La Accesibilidad cognitiva en un minuto_IS.mp4

II. Objetives

Framing Cognitive Accessibility is a photography contest for students from the universities of the EUGLOH alliance. The contest is part of the EUGLOH project Cognitive Accessibility in Buildings and Environments (CABE), led by University of Alcala and University of Porto. Participants are invited to explore cognitive accessibility through photographs of university campuses within the EUGLOH Alliance. Each participant must submit two photographs:

• One showing a good example of cognitive accessibility, where a space is easy to understand, navigate or use.
• One showing an example that could be improved, where people may experience confusion, disorientation or other cognitive barriers.

When taking your photographs, ask yourself:

• How does architecture help or complicate our understanding of space?
• Can people easily find their way and understand where they need to go?
• Is the signage visible and easy to interpret?
• Does visual clutter or excessive information make the environment difficult to understand?
• Do language, symbols or communication systems help everyone use the space independently?

Photographs may depict university buildings, public spaces, routes, signage systems, information points or other elements that influence how people understand and experience a EUGLOH campus.

III. Registration

1. First, register using the EUGLOH form below.
2. Second, send an email to cabe.euglogh@uah.es providing your contact information and attaching your photographs.
3. Attaching the two images for the contest (maximum 5 MB per image).By submitting the images, participants guarantee that the photographs are original and ensure that its content does not infringe any copyright related rights or industrial property rights of others.
4. If identifiable people appear in the photograph, participants must have their permission to publish and exhibit the image.
5. The universities of the EUGLOH Alliance are not responsible for any legal violations that may result from the participant’s disrespect of the previous paragraph and reserve the right to remove immediately the photographs that are object of claims from third parties. 

IV. Requirements

Participants must be students enrolled for the 2026–2027 academic year at any of the nine universities that form part of the EUGLOH alliance.

Each participant may only submit one registration with a maximum of two photographs. To be accepted in the contest, the submission must comply with the following requirements:

• Each participant must use their university email address to register. Submissions using email addresses other than institutional ones will not be accepted.
• The photographs must be in JPG
• The photograph must be A3 size (210 x 297 mm), either portrait or landscape orientation, and have a minimum resolution of 200 dpi (approximately 3310 x 2340 pixels).
• Maximum size of 5 MB per photograph.
• Basic editing (cropping, colour correction and light adjustment) is allowed. AI-generated content, photomontages and manipulated images are not permitted.
• For each photo, participants must provide:

o Place.

o Date.

o Brief description of less than 280 characters.

V. Important dates

Contest launch: 26 October 2026.

Photo submission deadline: 24 November 2026.

The jury's decision will be announced on 1 December 2026.

A selection of participants' photographs, including the winning entries, will be exhibited at the University of Alcalá and the University of Porto from 15 December 2026 to 31 January 2027.

VI. Selection

1. All photos and videos submitted to this contest will be judged by a jury appointed by the universities of the EUGLOH Alliance and communicated in EUGLOGH digital platforms. Additionally, the winner will be contacted by e-mail and informed about the delivery of the prize.
2. The jury will consist of four members: an expert in accessibility, an expert in audiovisual communication, and two representatives from the universities of the EUGLOH Alliance.
3. One first prize, one second prize and three runners-up prizes will be awarded, based on the criteria mentioned below:
4. a) Originality and creativity.
5. b) How clearly the photographs relate to cognitive accessibility.
6. c) Technical and artistic quality.
7. The jury’s decision is final, and any appeals or complaints will not be accepted. Moreover, the jury will decide on any point missing in these Application Guidelines.

VII. Prizes

• First prize: First prize: 5-Day Interrail Pass.
• Second prize: 4-Day Interrail Pass.
• Third prize: EUGLOH Goodies.

There will be three honourable mentions, which will not receive a prize but will be promoted on digital media and recognised at the exhibitions.

The prize will only be awarded to the student who submitted the winning picture, even if the picture was taken in collaboration with other students or if multiple people appear on the picture.

VIII. Obligations of the participants

1. Participation in the competition "Framing Cognitive Accessibility" automatically implies the acceptance of the rules and conditions of these Application Guidelines.
2. Any personal data obtained through the contest will not be made available to third parties. In particular, the e-mail addresses may be included in the lists for dissemination purposes of the Cognitive Accessibility in Buildings and Environments (CABE) EUGLOH project.
3. The universities of the EUGLOH Alliance use freely all photos uploaded into the competition form, in dissemination or other institutional material.
4. Without prejudice to the copyright recognized by law to the photographic work, the participation in the contest also implies the transfer of use rights (property) of the photographs to the universities of the EUGLOH Alliance, in non-exclusive free regime, which means that the author continues to enjoy the rights and may use the photos