WIPO Video Prize for Indigenous Youth 2026: Up to $4,000 in Digital Equipment

Share Indigenous know-how and creativity through original video storytelling

The World Intellectual Property Organization is inviting young Indigenous creators to document how traditional knowledge and cultural expression remain creative, contemporary, and active today. Entries can focus on crafts, performance, oral storytelling, food, healing practices, agriculture, environmental knowledge, or another community-approved expression of Indigenous culture.

Contest details

• Deadline: November 6, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Central European Time.
• Who can enter: Members of an Indigenous People located in a WIPO Member State who are ages 18–35 on the deadline.
• Entry fee: Free.
• Team size: Individual entries or groups of up to 10 people. Each person may participate in only one entry.
• Video length: 1 to 3 minutes.
• Format: MP4 without watermarks, captions, or burned-in subtitles.
• AI rule: AI-generated videos are not accepted. Any AI tools used during editing must be declared.
• Prior publication: The video must not have been published online or previously recognized or awarded by another contest.

Awards

• First prize: Digital equipment valued up to $4,000
• Second prize: Digital equipment valued up to $3,000
• Third prize: Digital equipment valued up to $2,000
• People’s Choice: Digital equipment valued up to $1,000
• Top 15: Training opportunities from the WIPO Academy

Submission requirements

Each entry includes the video title, a short explanation connecting the work to the theme, a creator biography, and a description of the Indigenous People represented and the entrant’s community involvement. When narration uses an Indigenous language, entrants must provide a translated script in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish.

Creators must obtain all music, likeness, community, traditional-knowledge, and cultural-expression permissions required for the film. Sacred, secret, or sensitive material should not be shown without appropriate community consent.

Rights terms

Entrants keep copyright. WIPO receives a non-exclusive, non-commercial, royalty-free worldwide license to display, reproduce, translate, distribute, broadcast, and archive the video and accompanying materials for educational, promotional, and capacity-building work. WIPO states that it will credit creators and will not commercially exploit entries.

Review the official WIPO competition page and enter · Read the complete official rules

OnlineVideoContests.com independently summarizes opportunities for creators. WIPO’s official rules control eligibility, cultural permissions, submission format, licensing, judging, and awards.