Judges Insights To Prepare Your Submission

Our new independent panel shares their expectations regarding the current edition and what they will value at the moment of reviewing the submissions.

Our new independent panel shares their expectations regarding the current edition and what they will value at the moment of reviewing the submissions.

Every year our team invests a significant amount of time in selecting a respected and diverse panel of judges for our open calls. The submissions review process and prizes assignment is totally delegated to them, and their ideas, feelings, and experience will be the main drivers to select the finalists. For this reason, not only it is important for us to invite recognised professionals, but also it is for you to know more about them and consider their thoughts at the moment of preparing your application.

Serving as the Curator at Open Eye Gallery Photography Museum in Liverpool after experiences at Foam Magazine and Photoworks, Mariama Attah is a rising voice among the new photography generations."I am interested in projects that use photography as a medium or as a tool in exploring the importance of visual culture and communication in our lives - she affirms, underlying the relevance that photography has in our everyday life and the role and responsibilities of photographers. The visual language is evolving and so the way you can interprete it at the moment of giving life to a project.

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean operates judge River Encalada Bullock, currently serving as Beaumont & Nancy Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Photography of The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Looking at the relevant social battles currently taken ahead in the US, she remarks: "I am interested in how photography can shuttle across media, publics, and histories both as a dispersed object in contemporary art practice, but also as a vehicle for social change and a deeply personal phenomenon. I hope to engage work by Black and Indigenous artists, and artists of color, whose creative practice helps shift attention to a present and future that centers voices of women that have been marginalized in the history of photography."

The important of taking risks and exploring new way of interpreting photography is instead remarked by judge Magdalena Herrera, the Director of Photography at GEO France and an experienced judge who also presided the 2018 World Press Photo Jury. "I look forward to discovering photography works with different and varied narrative approaches - she commented. I look forward to being surprised!" On a similar page is also Mariama who remarks this aspect: "I would love to see strong narratives, distinct voices, or timely and unexpected perspectives. I’m also excited to see projects that feel cohesive and make a clear connection between their intention and execution."

“I am looking for works that exemplifies a great commitment to your photographic practice - says judge Adama Delphine Fawundu, an American multi-disciplinary photographer and visual artist promoting African culture and heritage, and co-founder and author of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora – a journal and book representing female photographers of African descent. "I want to see works with unique narratives that express a strong sense of technique and dare to challenge the medium of photography.” Staying consistent, while giving space to your own voice and personal experience is easier said than done. This open call is a good way to embrace this challenge, being considered for relevant prizes, and show your work to a panel of experts who have all the tools to recognise talent. Keep their advice in mind and best of luck with it!

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The PHmuseum Women Photographers Grant, now in its 4th edition, aims to empower the work and careers of female and non-binary professionals of all ages and from all countries working in diverse areas of photography. To learn more and apply please visit phmuseum.com/w20.