August's Grants and Awards

The Firecracker Photographic Grant, Burn Magazine Emerging Photographer Fund, and the Carmignac Photojournalism Award are among the top opportunities open for entry this August. Learn how they can help support your work in our curated awards guide.

The Firecracker Photographic Grant, Burn Magazine Emerging Photographer Fund, and the Carmignac Photojournalism Award are among the top opportunities open for entry this August. Learn how they can help support your work in our curated awards guide.

The Firecracker Photographic Grant / Deadline: 2 September / Entry fee: £10

First launched back in 2012, the Firecracker Photographic Grant is an annual award that provides funding for a female or female-identifying photographer to assist with the completion of an ongoing documentary project. Through a combination of self-initiated fundraising and with the support of Genesis Imaging, the Grant comes with a minimum financial endowment of £2,000 plus credit for professional printing, mounting and framing services.

The prize will be awarded to a photographer based on the strength of their visual portfolios and submitted artist statements. Applications will be judged by a panel of industry experts featuring Vivienne Gamble (Founder and Director of Seen Fifteen, and Co-Founder of Peckham 24), Tim Clark (Curator and Editor in Chief and Director at 1000 Words), Brandei Estes (Head of Photography at Sotheby's), Lucy Pike (Director of Photography at WeTransfer), and Olivia Arthur (Photographer and Co-Founder of Fishbar).

Submissions are subject to a £10 application fee, with all funding contributing to the Grant total. The final deadline is 2 September with the winner to be announced on 1 October. To apply, go to fire-cracker.org/grant.

Burn Magazine Emerging Photographer Fund / Deadline: 30 September / Entry fee: $20

Burn Magazine’s Emerging Photographer Fund was created to recognise the finest emerging visual storytellers and provide funding to selected photographers to help support the continuation of compelling personal projects. An international jury comprised of prominent industry figures will select the winners of the Main EPF and the FujiFilm/Young Talent Award, both of which come with monetary prizes of US$10,000. The latter is only open to those photographers 25 years of age or younger. Submitted bodies of work may be of either journalistic mission or purely personal artistic imperatives.

As part of the application process, photographers must provide a project title, a short artist statement about the work, a portfolio of up to 25 images, and a short bio, in addition to a proposal detailing how the prize money would be used. The deadline for entry is 30 September and the submission fee is US$20. More information can be found at burnmagazine.org/epf.

The Carmignac Photojournalism Award / Deadline: 7 October / No entry fee

Founded back in 2009, the Carmignac Photojournalism Award looks to fund the production of an investigative photo reportage focusing on human rights violations in the world. The laureate will receive an endowment of €50,000, enabling them to them to realise an in-depth project on the ground, with the logistical support of Fondation Carmignac, who will further organise a travelling exhibition and the publication of a monograph once the work has been completed.

This theme this year is dedicated to the plight of The Amazon, with the winner expected to carry out work highlighting the upheavals to the rainforest, encouraging audiences to reflect upon the consequences of massive deforestation. The designation of the laureate will in happen in two stages. In the first phase, a pre-jury comprised of Dimitri Beck (Photography Director of Polka), Emma Bowkett (Photography Director of the Financial Times), and Nicolas Jimenez (Photography Director of Le Monde) will be tasked with choosing between 12 and 15 submission files from among those received. In the second phase, a panel featuring Yolanda Kakabadse (Former President of WWF), Simon Baker (Director of the Maison Européenne de la Photographie), Clinton Cargill (Photography Director of Bloomberg Businessweek), Alessia Glaviano (Photography Director of Vogue Italia and L'Uomo Vogue), Magdalena Herrera (Photography Director of Geo Magazine), Yuri Kozyrev (Photojournalist), and Kadir van Lohuizen (Photojournalist) will select the winning proposal from the shortlist.

Applicants must provide: a project description of up to 1,500 characters, a biography and a CV, a portfolio of up to 15 images, and a story (linked or not with the subject) of up to 15 images. The final deadline is 7 October and there are no entry fees. For further information, visit picter.com/prix-carmignac.

FORMAT International Photography Festival Open Call / Deadline: 6 September / Entry fee: €40

FORMAT International Photography Festival (United Kingdom) is calling for diverse and imaginative proposals from international photographers, curators, artists and collectives in response to the dual concept of FOREVER//NOW. A panel of recognised international experts and the FORMAT curators will review all submissions and select 35 projects to be exhibited at FORMAT19 in the spring of 2019. Invited from around the world, the jury includes Erik Kessels, Gwen Lee, Sarah Allen, Sebastian Arthur Hau, Yumi Goto, Huw Davies, Louise Fedotov-Clements, and Anna-Alix Koffi, among others.

FOREVER//NOW is a contested idea that we invite you to think widely about” say the organisers. “We are looking for a wide range of submissions and are open to all approaches and ideas from the archive to the most contemporary and conceptual projects” they add. In addition to participation in the festival, a whole host of other awards are also on offer, including The FORMAT19 Award (£2000), The Spectrum Imaging Award (worth £1000 in printing services and mentoring), The Royal Photographic Society Award (£500), The Photography Show Award (£500), The Chinese Photographers Magazine Feature Award (US$500), and The Genesis and Fuji Award (£1000 for print and framing services).

The submission fee is €40, which covers just one project of up to 20 images and can include reference to moving image, installation shots, ideas and composite images. Applicants may submit works from different bodies of work however they should not upload more than 20 images in total. This includes installation shots. The final deadline is 6 September. Visit picter.com/format to learn more.

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ALSO OPEN THIS MONTH:

Unseen Dummy Award 2018 / Deadline: 10 August / Entry fee: €30

Dutch international photography platform, Unseen and publishing company, Lecturis have come together once again in a creative collaboration to award and showcase the dummies of designers and photographers worldwide. A jury featuring leading industry figures will convene on the opening day of Unseen 2018 (21 - 23 September) and select three runners-up, and one winner, who shall have their book published next year and presented at Unseen 2019.

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Void - Hunger Issue No. 6 Open Call / Deadline: 23 August / No entry fee

Independent publisher and educational platform, Void is calling for entries to the sixth issue of its publishing initiative, Hunger. Artists using the photographic medium are invited to submit a visual response to the theme, A Hunger Artist, an idea inspired by a Franz Kafka short story of the same name. Seven issues of the publication will be released, one every 6 weeks, with each containing two to three invited artists and one selected by Void’s editorial team through open calls. PHmuseum supports this initiative as a media partner and those artists participating in the project will also be presented as part of the PHmuseum online exhibition program in November 2018.

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PhotogrVphy Grant / Deadline: 31 August / No entry fee

The annual PhotogrVphy Grant aims to support the work of emerging visual storytellers through cash prizes and exposure to industry professionals. Photographers can submit a project sharing a common theme in one of the five categories, namely Daily Life, Body, Climate, Experimental, and Urban, with one grand prize winner to receive $1,000. The jury this year features 20 names from the world of photography, including Alison Zavos, Rohit Vohra, Steve Bisson, Gianpaolo Arena, Robyn Lange, and Kim Aram.

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Photo Vogue Festival #AnewRenaissance Open Call / Deadline: End of August / No entry fee

Huawei and Vogue Italia have teamed up to call all photographers to take up the challenge to visually represent the concept, #AnewRenaissance for the upcoming edition of Photo Vogue Festival (November). From now through the end of August, Vogue Italia's photo editors will be scouting on Instagram to award the 50 best photos uploaded featuring the hashtags, #AnewRenaissance and #HUAWEIPVF2018. The winning images will be showcased on vogue.it and five selected photographers will be reporting for Vogue Italia during the Milan Fashion Week.

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Gomma Grant / Early Bird Deadline: 31 August; Final Deadline: 3 November / €15 - €25

The Gomma Grant is an all-inclusive award aiming to support the production of photographers’ work through cash endowments and other relevant initiatives. For the 2018 edition, Gomma Grant winners will share between them 50% of all revenue generated from the submissions. In addition to the first, second, and third prizes, the judges will also grant a number of smaller awards including Best Colour Documentary Work, Best Black and White Documentary Work, Best Colour Picture, Best Black and White Picture, Best Daily Life Story, Rising Talent, and a Gomma Prix Award.

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British Journal of Photography OpenWalls Award / Deadline: 13 September / No entry fee

1854 Media and British Journal of Photography are inviting both emerging and established photographers from all around the globe to submit their photographs for an exhibition at the internationally renowned Galerie Huit Arles, to coincide with Les Rencontres de la Photographie 2019, the world’s most established photo festival. From an initial shortlist of 50 images, 3 finalists will win return flights and accommodation to attend the opening event of the exhibition, where the overall winner will be chosen and announced.

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Paris Photo - Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards / Deadline: 14 September / Entry fee: $30 - $60

The Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards celebrate the photobook’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. Photographers, publishers, galleries, and institutions are invited to submit their photobooks into three different categories: The First PhotoBook Prize (for a first self-published / limited-edition book); The PhotoBook of the Year Prize (for a book in which the dominant content is photography); and The Photography Catalogue of the Year Prize (for the best exhibition catalogue or museum publication of the year). All shortlisted books will go on display at Paris Photo and feature in the fall 2018 issue of The PhotoBook Review.

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Every month we curate a list of what is coming up in the world of photography awards. Aimed at early, mid-career, and professional photographers, this list offers details of the most exciting opportunities. To stay up to date, subscribe to our newsletter by registering your email address in the space at the bottom of this page.

© Carolina Arantes, from the series First Generation (2017 winner)
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© Carolina Arantes, from the series First Generation (2017 winner)

© Aleksey Kondratyev, from the series Ice Fishers (2017 Fujifilm Young Talent Award winner)
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© Aleksey Kondratyev, from the series Ice Fishers (2017 Fujifilm Young Talent Award winner)

© Lizzie Sadin (2017 Laureate)
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© Lizzie Sadin (2017 Laureate)

© Sheng-Wen Lo, from the series White Bear (2017 exhibitor)
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© Sheng-Wen Lo, from the series White Bear (2017 exhibitor)

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