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The Africa-China Reporting Project Grants
The Africa-China Reporting Project (the Project) at Wits Journalism facilitates journalists to investigate complex dynamics and uncover untold stories, with an emphasis on on-the-ground impact and perspectives to illustrate how the lives of the people of Africa are changing amid the comprehensive phenomenon of Africa-China interactions. It invites journalists to submit proposals on this topic for grants of up to US$1,500. Learn more here.
The Aftermath Project
The Aftermath Project is a non-profit organization committed to telling the other half of the story of conflict — the story of what it takes for individuals to learn to live again, to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, to address the lingering wounds of war while struggling to create new avenues for peace. The Aftermath Project holds a yearly grant competition open to working photographers worldwide covering the aftermath of conflict. Deadline is typically in November.
The Alexia Grants
The Alexia Grants provide grants and scholarships to photojournalists, enabling them to create work that gives voice to those who go unheard, fosters cultural understanding and exposes social injustice. It annually provides a $20,000 grant for a professional photographer to produce a substantial story. The Alexia Grants also provide grants and scholarships for six students. Students must be enrolled full time in an accredited college or university. Photographers from anywhere in the world are eligible.
The Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship Award
The Alicia Patterson Fellowships are open only to U.S. citizens who are full-time print journalists, or to non-U.S. citizens who work full-time for U.S. print publications, either in America or abroad. The aim of the award is to improve the quality of U.S. print journalism.
American Illustrator-American Photography
American Illustrator-American Photography are juried showcases for established, emerging and student illustrators and photographers. The award annuals offer high visibility and recognition where it matters most. Winners are published in a large-format, luxurious, hardcover, showcasing work that’s ahead of its time.
The AI-AP books, published annually in November, are the first go-to resourses for art directors, designers, photo editors and art buyers who insist on assigning only the best original, thoughtful and compelling pictures.
Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award
The Anja Niedringhaus Award was created to honor the life and work of Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus. The award celebrates the courage of women photojournalists who capture conflict and crisis while sharing moments of humanity.
AnthropoGraphia Award
The award is an opportunity for visual storytellers to exhibit their work and demonstrate their commitment to human rights issues. AnthropoGraphia will grant a $3,000 award to one outstanding Visual Storytelling essay. Deadline is in May.
The Biennial Grant
The Biennial Grant has been conceived to fund and support photographers working on a documentary or fine art projects. The 4th edition is now open to receive applications.
The Grant amount has been raised to $12,000. Deadline: November 22, 2020
APA / Lucie Foundation Scholarship
The APA/Lucie Foundation Scholarship awards one grant of $5,000 to a professional photographer beginning a new project idea, or for a work in progress of a specific series.
Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition
The Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition seeks to illustrate the rich diversity of life on Earth and inspire action to protect and conserve it through the power of imagery. It is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences.
Camille Lepage Award
The Association named Camille Lepage – On est ensemble was founded on September 20, 2014, only months after the death of Camille Lepage while reporting in the Central African Republic. The Association commemorates Camille, her work and commitment.
For the fifth time, the collecting society la Saif is supporting the award which provides backing and encouragement for a photojournalist committed to a long-term project. The award is in the amount of €8,000. Learn more and apply here.
Canon Female Photojournalist Award
The Canon Female Photojournalist Award is an annual prize for women photojournalists. Women photojournalists worldwide are welcome to enter the competition, for which there is no age limit. The 8,000-euro award enables the winners to finance their projects and have their work exhibited at the festival in Perpignan and later in Paris at the Cosmos Galery. I’m grateful to have been a former recipient.
Carmignac Gestion Photojournalism Award
In addition to an award of 50,000 euros, the Carmignac Gestion Foundationsupports the winner after completion of the project by financing an exhibition and a monograph. The Foundation also commits to buying four photographs from the work produced. In offering this award, the Carmignac Gestion Foundation aims to support photojournalists who find themselves working on the front-line of different situations. In choosing to support this profession which is critically underfunded, Carmignac Gestion wishes to provide these key witnesses of the contemporary world with the means to go where others don’t.
Catchlight Fellowship
The CatchLight Fellowship is $30,000 each to be awarded annually to three creative leaders in the field of visual storytelling, who have demonstrated excellence in the novel use of photography to depict and bring awareness to challenging social issues.
CatchLight’s Behind the Lens series
CatchLight’s Behind the Lens series is primarily interested in longer term projects that show a unique and personal approach from the visual storyteller’s perspective. Selection will be determined on the basis of existing work. This opportunity is not an assignment. In addition to highlighting timely, important work on their Instagram feed, this series provides their audiences and community with behind-the-scenes insights into the visual storytelling process. In response to the current economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, on the mostly freelance field of visual storytelling, we are increasing our standard rate to $450 USD for the next several months. Learn more here.
CDS Documentary Essay Prize in Photography
The CDS Documentary Prize honors the best in documentary writing and photography in alternating years, with a focus on current or recently completed work from a long-term project. The winner of the competition will receive $3,000 and have his or her work featured in Document, a quarterly newsmagazine published by the Center for Documentary Studies, as well as in a virtual gallery on the CDS website.
Center: The Project Development Grant
The Project Development Grant offers financial support to fine art, documentary or photojournalist works-in-progress. The grant includes a cash award to help complete a project as well as platforms for feedback and professional development opportunities for the works final stages. This grant is awarded to projects that are still in progress and have not been exhibited or published.
Center: The Project Launch
The Project Launch is presented to an outstanding photographer working in fine art series or documentary project. The grant includes a cash award to help complete or disseminate the works as well as providing a platform for exposure and professional development opportunities.
CENTER’s Project Launch Grant & Project Development Grant
CENTER’s Project Launch Grant is awarded to talented photographers working with a fine art series or a documentary project. The grant includes a $5,000 cash award and a featured exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Arts, a Lenscratch publication and more.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for Photographers from PhotoShelter
As the threat of coronavirus spreads around the world, photographers are grappling with the potential for severe economic impact on their livelihood. Although a prolonged outbreak will require significant federal intervention, a number of groups have already started to provide useful information or financial support for freelancers. PhotoShelter has compiled the following list of resources for photographers that they’ll continue to update.
Courage in Journalism Awards
The Courage in Journalism Awards from the IWMF (International Women’s Media Foundation) show people that female journalists are not going to step aside, cannot be silenced, and deserve to be recognized for their strength in the face of adversity. It honors the brave journalists who report on taboo topics, work in environments hostile to women, and share difficult truths. Nominate a woman today.
COVID-19 Freelance Artist Resources
COVID-19 Freelance Artist Resources is an aggregated list of FREE resources, opportunities, and financial relief options available to artists of all disciplines. Dig in here.
Crusade Engagement Grant
Crusade for Art aims to inspire photographers to create new audiences who want to engage meaningfully with art. Their $10,000 Crusade Engagement Grant is awarded to an individual or group of photographers with the most innovative plan for connecting audiences to their work.
The Documentary Project Fund
The Documentary Project Fund is focused on supporting still photographers and improving communities. Each call-for-entries is intended to fund one project and will award up to $5,000. The fund may grant project support to photographers working in conjunction with another nonprofit, provided that group will match funding. Submissions are accepted twice a year.
Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize
The Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize was created to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers in the tradition of the acclaimed photographer Dorothea Lange and writer and social scientist Paul Taylor. The winner receives $10,000, a solo exhibition at the Center for Documentary Studies, and inclusion in the Archive of Documentary Arts at Rubenstein Library, Duke University.
Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship
The Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship provides a unique academic and professional opportunity for women journalists focusing on human rights and social justice reporting. The eight-month fellowship combines research at MIT with journalism internships at The Boston Globe and The New York Times.
Epson International Pano Awards
The Epson International Pano Awards is the largest panoramic photography competition in the world. The total prize pool is worth $50,000.
Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards
The Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards is an international photography competition for up-and-coming image makers. Photographers of all disciplines are invited to submit up to five images in any genre.
FotoEvidence Book Award
The annual FotoEvidence Book Award will recognize a documentary photographer whose project demonstrates courage and commitment in addressing a violation of human rights, a significant injustice or an assault on human dignity. The selected project will be published in a book, as part of a series of FotoEvidence books dedicated to the work of photographers whose commitment and courage create an awareness of social injustice.
Fotovisura Grant
The FotoVisura Grant aims to support personal photography projects and encourage the production and development of photography outside of the commercial realm. The Grant recognizes photographers as judged by their images, story, dedication and commitment of the photographer to the story or concept.
Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship
The Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellowship, a component of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, provides opportunities for selected Fulbright US Student Study/Research grantees to participate in an academic year of storytelling on a globally significant theme. This Fellowship is made possible through a partnership between the U.S. Department of State and the National Geographic Society.
Getty Images Creative Grants
Getty Images Creative Grants program recognizes, celebrates and supports emerging and established photographic talent. Eight prizes totaling $40,000 will be offered.
Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography
Getty Images believes that photojournalism is a powerful tool for telling compelling social, political and cultural stories. Five journalists will be chosen to receive grants of $10,000, intended to provide the funding and freedom to pursue projects of personal and journalistic significance. One Editorial Grant recipient will be chosen for the David Laidler Memorial Award.
HCB Award
The Henri Cartier-Bresson Award is open to photographers with “an approach close to that of documentary” and the £35,000 is awarded every other year.
Ian Parry Scholarship
The Ian Parry Scholarship Ian Parry was a photojournalist who died while on assignment for The Sunday Times during the Romanian revolution in 1989. He was just 24 years of age. Aidan Sullivan, then picture editor, and Ian’s friends and family created the Ian Parry Scholarship in order to build something positive from such a tragic death. Each year they hold an international photographic competition for young photographers who are either attending a full-time photographic course or are under 24.
The Ian Parry Scholarship is divided into two categories: The Sunday Times Award for Achievement and The Canon Award for Potential. Each winner will receive $3,500 for their chosen project, as well as mentorship and other forms of professional support. The 2020 Deadline is July 9. Go to ianparry.org/scholarship for more details.
Imagely
Imagely offers a $5,000 grant to a photographer to undertake an important humanitarian and environmental photography project. Our goal is to identify outstanding photographers and to provide the resources necessary to pursue projects that will have a tangible and positive effect on the world.
Inge Morath Award
The annual Inge Morath Award is a $5000 prize given to a woman photographer under thirty years of age to assist in the completion of a long term documentary project.
The International Academic Forum Documentary Photography Award
The IAFOR Documentary Photography Award promotes and assists in the professional development of emerging documentary photographers and photojournalists. The contest is free to enter and the £1000 award is judged by a panel of leading professionals in documentary photography and photojournalism.
International Women’s Media Foundation Journalism Relief Fund
The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF)’s Journalism Relief Fund is open to women-identifying journalists in dire straits – journalists who have faced significant financial hardship, lost work, were recently laid off or who urgently need assistance to avoid severe, irreversible outcomes. This fund will provide small grants of up to $2,000 USD per request. However, special consideration will be given on a case-by-case basis to those who have greater financial need. Learn more here.
International Women’s Media Foundation Reporting Initiatives
The IWMF offers support and opportunities for female journalists to gain reporting experience, currently The African Great Lakes Reporting Initiative and the Adelante Reporting Initiative in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the Mexico-United States border.
Istanbul Photo Awards
The Andalou Agency’s Istanbul Photo Awards accepts single and story entries in news and sports categories. Prizes include $8,000 to the winner in each category.
IWMF Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists
The International Women’s Media Foundation will award $2.3 million to women journalists over the next 10 years through a gift from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation that seeks to empower women around the world working in the media.
Japan International Photojournalism Awards
The Japan International Photojournalism Awards invites entry photographs advocating the dignity of humans and nature. The top cash prize is 1 million yen.
John Gutman Photography Fellowship
For over sixty years, John Gutmann made an imprint as an artist and educator on the development of photography as an art form. Through his philanthropic generosity, annual awards of up to $5,000 are made to emerging photographers showing professional accomplishment, serious artistic commitment, and need in the field of photography. Candidates for Gutmann Fellowships are nominated by an appointed jury.The annual award of $5,000 will be given to one or a number of emerging photographers, showing professional accomplishments, serious artistic commitment and need in the field of creative photography.
Kuala Lampur International Photo Awards
The Kuala Lampur International Photo Awards is a portraiture-only competition with themed and open categories and it open to photographers of all experience levels.
Leica Oskar Barnack Award
The Leica Oskar Barnack Award is for professional photographers whose unerring powers of observation capture and express the relationship between man and the environment in the most graphic form. The winner of the “Leica Oskar Barnack Award” receives a Leica M camera and a lens worth 10,000 Euros in addition to a cash prize of 10,000 Euros.
Light Work Artist-in-Residence Program
Each year Light Work invites 12-15 artists to participate in its residency program, including one artist co-sponsored by Autograph ABP and one artist in conjunction with the Urban Video Project (UVP). Artists selected for the residency program are invited to live in Syracuse for one month. They receive a $5,000 stipend, an apartment to stay in, a private digital studio, a private darkroom, and 24-hour access to our facility. Submissions are reviewed regularly throughout the year.
Lucie Foundation Emerging Scholarship
The Lucie Foundation Emerging Scholarship provides a grant of $2,500 for an emerging or student photographer, working on a portfolio or specific body of work.
Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation Documentary Photography Grant
The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation calls for project proposals along with portfolios to highlight human unrest, forgotten communities, over-exploited people and environments impacted by war, poverty, famine, disease, exploitation and global distress. The foundation will award a $5,000 grant to the winning documentary/reporting project proposal.
National Geographic Covid-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists
National Geographic has announced the Covid-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists to support local coverage of the preparation, response, and impact of this global pandemic as seen through evidence-based reporting. Support will range from $1,000–8,000 USD. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Learn more here.
National Geographic Early Career Grant
The National Geographic Early Career Grants are designed to offer less experienced individuals an opportunity to lead a project in Conservation, Education, Research, Storytelling, or Technology in one of three focus areas: Wildlife, Our Changing Planet and The Human Journey. Grant projects last one calendar year or less. Projects are typically funded for US $5,000 and cannot exceed US $10,000.
Nikon Photo Contest
Nikon has an incredible opportunity and I am honored to have been a judge. The Nikon Photo Contest nurtures an aspirational community that supports photographers who wish to share important stories and influence the way people think through photography. Get your entries ready and watch the Nikon Photo Contest website for more information about this year’s contest.
NPPA Short Grants
The National Press Photographers Association is supporting the community photo story through the NPPA Short Grants, with six awards of $6,000 each. A project funded by a short grant should be small in scale and focused. Staff photographers are encouraged to apply and complete the project during furlough, vacation or comp time. Independent photographers are also encouraged to apply. Priority is not based on employment status but on your ability to tell a great visual story, and on whether or not you have a great idea for a story that needs to be told.
NPPA’s COVID-19 Resource
The National Press Photographers Association has compiled an extensive list of resources for photojournalists on topics including safety, cleaning gear, mental health, financial resources and funding, working from home, grants and more. See more here.
Open Society Documentary Photography Project
The Open Society Documentary Photography Project offers grants for documentary photographers from Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Pakistan. The fund awards approximately ten cash stipends in the amount of $3,500 USD each to photographers to produce a photo essay on a critical human rights or social issue in the region. Along with the stipend, successful applicants will receive two master-level workshops on visual storytelling through photography and multimedia. Watch the Open Society website for information about the next round.
NPPF Student Scholarships
The National Press Photographers Foundation scholarships are awarded to encourage those with the talent and dedication to photojournalism and who need financial help to continue their studies. These awards are directed toward those studying full-time or returning to college.
Open Society Fellowship
The Open Society Fellowship supports individuals pursuing innovative and unconventional approaches to fundamental open society challenges to enrich public understanding of those challenges and stimulate far-reaching and probing conversations within the Open Society Foundations and in the world.
Philip Jones Griffiths Award
The Philip Jones Griffiths Award, named in honor of the renowned photojournalist, aims to help a journalist complete a body of work related to issues of social and political importance
Photographic Museum of Humanity
The Photographic Museum of Humanity Grant is an international contest with the aim to finance talented photographers and discover new talents. A total of $4,000 will be awarded.
PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris
The Prix de la Photographie Paris strives to promote an appreciation of photography, discover emerging talent, and introduce photographers from around the world to the artistic community of Paris. Entries are accepted in six categories.
RFK Journalism Awards
Drawing from both national and international candidate pools, the RFK Journalism Awards recognize writing in the public interest on the issues of poverty, political inclusion, and justice. The twelve award categories honor exceptional works of journalism and social critique in many forms including documentary film, photography, radio, and cartoons.
Rory Peck Training Fund
The Rory Peck Training Fund makes hostile environment training affordable for freelancers. Since its launch in 2000, the Fund has given over 500 bursaries to freelance journalists, photographers, cameramen and filmmakers, enabling them to gain the vital skills and knowledge needed for work in hostile environments. The Trust works with five approved course providers. You must take your training with one of them, but it is up to you which one.
Rory Peck Trust Assistance Grants
Rory Peck Trust offers individual grants to freelance newsgatherers and/or their families who find themselves in a critical situation. This includes freelancers who have been threatened, imprisoned or injured, forced into hiding or exile, or killed.
The Society of Environmental Journalists Annual Competition
The Society of Environmental Journalists offers more than $17,500 in cash prizes are available in their annual awards which recognize the best environmental reporting of the last year. Enter your best stories on environment, energy, business, agriculture, or other related issues published from March 1 of the previous year through the end of Feb or the competition year. Deadline: Early April.
Sony World Photography Awards
The Sony World Photography Awards is open to photographers at every experience level and offers $30,000 in annual cash prizes and Sony equipment. Photographers are invited to submit a single shot or photo series.
Soros Justice Fellowships
The Soros Justice Fellowships Program’s Media Fellowships is for individuals with distinctive voices proposing to complete media projects that engage and inform, spur debate and conversation, and catalyze change on important U.S. criminal justice issues. Deadline is in October. Watch the Open Society website for the next round.
Tim Hetherington Grant
The Tim Hetherington Grant is an annual grant awarded to a photographer to finalize a project on a human rights theme. It is open to professional photographers who have participated in a recent World Press Photo Contest. Applications are accepted in October every year.
Travel Photographer of the Year
The Travel Photographer of the Year contest is “by photographers, for photographers” and seeks entries from around the world. Winning photographs are printed in TPOY books, displayed at the Museum of London Dockland and in traveling exhibits.
VSCO Artist Initiative
VSCO has created a $1,000,000 grant to provide photographers with funds to pursue their creative visions. Applicants must be VSCO members.
The W. Eugene Smith Fund
The W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography is presented annually to a photographer whose past work and proposed project, as judged by a panel of experts, follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s concerned photography and dedicated compassion exhibited during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist.
The W. Eugene Smith Howard Chapnick Grant
The Howard Chapnick Grant was developed to encourage and support leadership in fields ancillary to photojournalism, such as editing research, education and management. The annual $5,000 grant may be used to finance any of a range of qualified undertakings, which might include a program of further education, research, a special long-term sabbatical project, or an internship to work with a noteworthy group or individual.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition includes a major exhibition at the National History Museum in Britain. There are 17 categories covering all manner of wildlife photography.