W. Eugene Smith Student Grant 2025

The 2025 edition of the W. Eugene Smith Student Grant offers two cash prizes of $5,000 to students to complete a photographic essay.

Overview

The W. Eugene Smith Grant for Student Photographers is designed to encourage and support students whose photographic work renews the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s dedicated compassion as evidenced during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist. Special consideration will be given to work that promotes social change, that embraces new technologies and image distribution, and that seeks to integrate the tradition of photography and social change with contemporary practice.

The judges will be looking for a photographer and project that seem most likely to use photojournalism and documentary photography (possibly supplemented by or incorporating multi-media) to address an issue of import and impact related to the human condition: social change, humanitarian concern, armed conflict, or other topics of interpersonal, psychological, cultural, social, environmental, scientific, medical and/or political significance, ideally expressing an underlying acknowledgement of our common humanity.

Practical Info

The 2025 W. Eugene Smith Student Grant offers two student photographers an award of $5,000 each to complete a compelling photographic essay. Applicants must be at least 18 years old and currently enrolled students, as verified by a submitted photo of a valid Student ID. The application should include a brief but comprehensive project description—journalistically realizable, visually translatable, and driven by humanistic values—as well as a more detailed project proposal explaining how the funds will be used. A biography is required, while a CV is optional. Applicants may submit up to 40 images, including the Student ID; these can feature proposed project work as well as clearly marked past work that demonstrates the photographer’s vision and ability. AI-generated imagery is strictly prohibited. Photographers who cannot afford the submission fee may request a fee waiver.

The Fund’s Board of Trustees will appoint an international three-member jury that will meet twice. During the first session, they will review all submissions and select finalists based on the intellectual and substantive merit of the projects. Finalists will then refine their proposals and respond to jury questions before the second session, where the grant recipients will be chosen.

About the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, Inc.

The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation qualified under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, independently administers the grant program that provides photographers with the opportunity to carry out or complete a major photographic essay.