July's Photography Grants and Awards

The Firecracker Photographic Grant, African Artists' Foundation x PHmuseum Photography Prize, and PHOTO IS:RAEL Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography are among the latest contests to launch their open calls. Check out how they can support the development of your visual stories.

The Firecracker Photographic Grant / Deadline: 4 August / Entry fee: £10

First established in 2012, the Firecracker Photographic Grant is an annual contest that looks to provide financial backing for a female or non-binary photographer to assist with the completion of an ongoing documentary project. Through a combination of self-initiated fundraising and the support of Genesis Imaging, the Grant comes with a minimum monetary award of £2,000 plus credit for a range of professional services including printing, mounting, and framing.

The prize will be awarded to a photographer based upon the strength of their visual portfolios and supporting artist statements. Applications this year will be reviewed by an independent panel of industry experts that includes Candice Lawler (Photo Director, Apple), Mirjam Kooiman (Curator, Foam Photography Museum Amsterdam), Adama Delphine Fawundu (Artist and Co-founder of MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora), Skinder Hundal (Director, New Art Exchange Nottingham), and Genevieve Fussell (Senior Photo Editor, The New Yorker).

Submissions are subject to a £10 application fee, with all funding contributing to the total Grant award. The final deadline is 4 August and the winner is set to be announced on 1 September. To learn more and apply, visit fire-cracker.org/grant.

African Artists' Foundation x PHmuseum Photography Prize / Deadline: 21 July / No entry fee

PHmuseum has partnered with the African Artists' Foundation to launch a new prize dedicated solely to African photographers living and working in Africa. The prize aims to recognise, honour, and ultimately nurture the next generation of visionary image-makers and storytellers emerging from the continent. The call is open to all African artists using photography and photographic processes as a medium to tell well-crafted stories that alter perspectives and create open conversations grounded in pressing contemporary issues.

The international jury for this inaugural edition is comprised of Giuseppe Oliverio (Founder and Director, PHmuseum), Benson Ibeabuchi (Independent Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker), Rocco Venezia (Curator and Producer, PHmuseum), Emebriodo Ugochukwu (Independent Photographer and Curator), and Nguveren Ahua (Independent Photographer and Filmmaker). They will be looking to award bodies of work rather than single images and they are welcoming submissions from many photographic disciplines, from straight documentary to fine art or experimental works that convey each photographer's unique vision. The prizes on offer include three portfolio reviews with mentors from the PHmuseum Educational Program, three Story of the Week features on the PHmuseum news feed, and one four-day Takeover on PHmuseum's Instagram.

To enter, photographers must submit a project featuring between five and 15 images on the PHmuseum platform utilising the hashtag #AAFPrize. To do this, simply sign up for free at phmuseum.com or upload to an already registered account. To find out more, go to africanartists.org.

PHOTO IS:RAEL Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography / Deadline: 31 July / Entry fee: US$42 - US$54

The Meitar Award for Excellence in photography, a collaboration between PHOTO IS:RAEL and the Zvi and Ofra Meitar Family Fund, will be awarded for the fourth time this year for a body of work that demonstrates excellence in the field of photography. All submissions will be reviewed by an independent jury that features the likes of Marta Weiss (Senior Curator of Photographs, Victoria and Albert Museum), Doron Rabina (Chief Curator, Tel Aviv Museum of Art), Rivka Saker (Chairman, Sotheby's Israel), Laura Letinsky (Artist and Professor, University of Chicago), Nathalie Herschdorfer (Director MBAL Museum of Fine Arts Le Locle), and Moshe Rosenzweig (Founder and Artistic Director, Head On Photo Festival). Together they will select 20 finalists who will be showcased in a group exhibition at the International Photography Festival in November in Tel Aviv before travelling on to other festivals around the world.

The jury will choose the overall winner based on the body of work that they feel has the potential to form a compelling solo exhibition. The recipient will claim a grant worth US$14,000, which includes a cash prize of US$2.500, a year-long co-operation with a professional curator, and the production of an exhibition at the 2020 edition of the International Photography Festival. All works will be judged anonymously based on their originality and quality. For further information, visit photoisrael.org/meitar.

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OTHER DEADLINES:

EPSON International Pano Awards / Deadline: 22 July / US$18 - US$22

Celebrating their tenth anniversary this year, the EPSON International Pano Awards look to promote and showcase the work of panoramic photographers worldwide. In the Open competition, the winning prize package totals US$10,600 and is comprised of a US$3,500 cash award, Nodal Ninja vouchers, Triple Scoop Music vouchers, and the latest digital printing equipment. The winners of the two special awards – the EPSON Digital Art Prize and The Curator’s Award – will each be granted cash prizes of US$1,000, while a number of other smaller awards are also on offer, including Highest Scoring Gigapixel Image, Highest Scoring Aerial Image, Highest Scoring Film Capture, Highest Scoring Vertical Image, and Highest Scoring Smartphone Image.

Lucie Photobook Prize / Deadline: 26 July / Entry fee: US$35 - US$55

The Lucie Photo Book Prize, run by the Lucie Foundation, looks to support photographers in the production and promotion of their photobooks through monetary prizes and opportunities for exposure. The contest is divided into two separate awards - the US$3,000 Traditional Prize will be awarded to a photographer, editor, curator or publisher whose book is commercially produced and distributed, while the US$2,000 Independent Prize will be awarded to a photographer, editor, curator or publisher whose book is published and distributed independently.

Women Photograph Mentorship Program / Deadline: 31 July / No entry fee

Women Photograph is currently accepting applications for their 2019 - 2020 Mentorship Program, which will pair 22 industry leaders with 22 early-career photojournalists over the course of a year. Mentors include editors and photographers from The New York Times, the Associated Press, the National Geographic Society, Instagram, Bloomberg, Le Monde, and the Magnum Foundation, among others. They are specifically looking for women and non-binary photographers with less than five years of professional work experience who might be interested in long-term support.

Photo Vogue Festival Open Call / Deadline: end of July / No entry fee

Since its inception, Photo Vogue Festival has always sought to raise questions about the most pressing issues of our times through photography, based on the assumption that any image, regardless of its nature, is about an ethical matter and a political necessity. For the fourth edition of the festival, which will take place in Milan from 14 through 17 November, the curators have decided to explore the topic A Glitch in the System, Deconstructing Stereotypes. To be in with a chance of exhibiting, photographers must sign up to Photo Vogue for free and upload images to their online community that relate to the core theme.

Unseen Dummy Award / Deadline: 1 August / Entry fee: €30

The Unseen Dummy Award is a creative collaboration between Unseen and publishing company Lecturis that looks to showcase the work of photographers and designers from around the world, providing them with an opportunity to publish their dummy photobooks. This year, prior to the launch of Unseen Amsterdam, a pre-selection of 40 dummies will be made and then exhibited during the three-day festival from 20 through 22 September. A jury composed of leading industry figures will convene on the opening day and select up to three runners-up and one winner who will have their book published next year.

Budapest International Foto Awards / Deadline: 5 August / Entry fee: US$10 - US$50

Inaugurating this year, the Budapest International Foto Awards have set out a mission to promote the work of professional and emerging photographers to the fast-growing artistic community in the Hungarian capital, putting them in the spotlight and providing them with a great platform to showcase their work. The awards will seek to recognise the power and influence of photography in shaping how we see the world. Applicants will compete for various prizes including monetary awards and opportunities to exhibit their work in Budapest.

Tokyo International Foto Awards / Deadline: 31 August / Entry fee: US$15 - US$50

The Tokyo International Foto Awards are designed to connect talented photographers from around the world to new audiences and new eyes in the creative circles of Japan. The competition is divided into two Professional and Non-professional contests, which are further split into 10 sub-categories, namely Advertising, Architecture, Book, Editorial, Events, Fine Art, Nature, People, Portfolio, and Science. First Place winners in each category in both contests will enjoy extensive publicity throughout the coming year in addition to having their work exhibited in Tokyo and at other venues around the world. There are also two independent awards, the TIFA Photographer of the Year and New Talent of the Year, which come with US$3,000 and US$2,000 cash prizes respectively.

International PhotogrVphy Grant / Deadline: 31 August / No entry fee

Moving into its fifth edition, the annual PhotogrVphy Grant seeks 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 (of up to 10 images) in one of the five categories, namely Daily Life, Body, Climate, Experimental, and Urban, with one grand prize winner to receive US$1,000. Alison Zavos, Daria Bonera, Niccolò Fano, Gianpaolo Arena, and Robyn Lange are among the jury members.

Paris Photo - Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards / Deadline: 13 September / Entry fee: US$30 - US$60

The Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards have developed into one of the most famed contests in the industry, celebrating the photobook’s contribution to the evolving narrative of photography. Visual storytellers, artists, photographers, publishers, galleries, and institutions around the world are invited to submit their photobooks into three different categories, namely the First PhotoBook Prize, the PhotoBook of the Year Prize, and the Photography Catalogue of the Year Prize.. All shortlisted books will go on display at Paris Photo and feature in the fall 2019 issue of The PhotoBook Review, published by Aperture Foundation.

Gomma Photography Grant / Early Bird Deadline: 31 August; Final Deadline: 4 November / Entry fee: €10 - €25

Now in its sixth year, the Gomma Photography Grant is an all-inclusive award that aims to promote and expose photographers - both emerging and established - working across all genres of visual storytelling. Since it was established in 2004, Gomma has gained a reputation for bringing recognition to undetected artists with the jury applying a strict meritocratic approach to judging. Winners of the First, Second, and Third Prize will receive €1,000, €300, and €200 respectively, while a number of smaller recognitions will be granted to the Best Colour Documentary work, Best Black and White Documentary work, Best Colour Picture, Best Black and White Picture, Best Daily Life Story, and Best Rising Talent.

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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.