July's Photography Grants and Awards

In our curated awards guide this month, we feature the PHOTO IS:RAEL Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography, Paris Photo - Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, and many other great opportunities. Learn how they can help with the development and promotion of your visual stories.

In our curated awards guide this month, we feature the PHOTO IS:RAEL Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography, Paris Photo - Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards, and many other great opportunities. Learn how they can help with the development and promotion of your visual stories.

PHOTO IS:RAEL Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography / Deadline: 20 July / Entry fee: US$35

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 fifth time for a body of work that demonstrates excellence in the field of photography. This year’s winner will receive a US$20,000 grant for the publication of a professional photography book through BLOW UP PRESS, a Warsaw-based boutique publishing house. A shortlist of 20 photographers will also be selected for a group exhibition at the International Photography Festival, which is set to take place in November 2020 in Tel Aviv.

All submissions will be reviewed by an independent panel that features the likes of Michael Benson (Founder, Candlestar/Photo London), Maya Benton (Curator and Art Historian), Krzysztof Candrowicz (Curator, Lodz Fotofestiwal), Sian Davey (Artist), Mirjam Kooiman (Curator, FOAM Photography Museum, Amsterdam), Grzegorz Kosmala (Founder and Director, BLOW UP PRESS), and Rivka Saker (Chairman of Sotheby's Israel). Together they will select a photographer who demonstrates thought, quality, and originality, as well as the potential to create a comprehensive body of work suitable for publication as a book. The submitted portfolios will be delivered to the jury anonymously, with no identifying markers, and will be judged based on their excellency. Further information can be found at photoisrael.org/meitar.

Paris Photo - Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards / Early Bird Deadline: 15 July; Final Deadline: 11 September / Entry fee: US$20 - US$60

Initiated back in 2012, the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards have developed into one of the most famed contests in the industry, dedicated solely to the celebration of 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: the First PhotoBook Prize (for a first self-published / limited-edition book); the PhotoBook of the Year Prize (for a book authored by more than one photographer/artist 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).

The awards will be judged in two stages. An initial jury comprised of representatives from both Paris Photo and Aperture Foundation will convene in New York to select a shortlist in each category. A second, separate jury will then meet in Paris immediately before the inauguration of Paris Photo (12 – 15 November) to select the three winners. All shortlisted books will go on display at Paris Photo and feature in the fall 2020 issue of The PhotoBook Review, published by Aperture Foundation. Following their display during Paris Photo, an exhibition of thirty shortlisted books will travel to Aperture Gallery in New York and may be exhibited at other venues worldwide.

This year, applicants can take advantage of an Early Bird deadline fee which is available until 15 July, while the final deadline is 11 September. More details can be found at contests.picter.com/photobook-awards-2020.

Gomma Photography Grant / Deadline: 31 August / Entry fee: €20

Now in its seventh year, the Gomma Photography Grant is an all-inclusive award that aims to promote 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. “We like to reward photographers that do not follow the trends and are not copycats of any kind," write the editorial team. "We are looking for photographers with a fresh eye, courage, and a distinct personality; someone that has no fear to show their own soul throughout the work. Artists that have the curiosity to investigate the common and capture the every day."

Winners of the First, Second, and Third Prize will receive €1,000, €500, and €200 respectively, while two smaller recognitions will be granted to the Best Documentary Work and Best Rising Talent. To apply, photographers must submit between six and 20 images from either an ongoing or completed project and a short introductory statement. All profits generated from the 2020 Gomma Grant contest will be donated to three charities battling COVID-19, namely Emergency (Italy), NHS Together (United Kingdom), and CDC Foundation (United States). Visit gommagrant.com to find out more.

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OTHER DEADLINES:

Prix Virginia / Deadline: 9 July / No entry fee

Awarded by the Sylvia S. Association, Prix Virginia is open to all women photographers without regard to their nationality or the subject matter of their work. A jury comprised of eight recognised specialists in the field of visual arts will select one winner who will receive a €10,000 monetary prize. The Sylvia S. Association will also grant a Carte blanche for a Portrait de Ville edited by Be-Pôles editions for the winner or one of the 10 finalists.

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Camara Clara Photo Prize / Deadline: 12 July / No entry fee

Created in 2012 under the auspices of the Foundation Grésigny, the Camera Clara Photo Prize is open solely for artists working with view cameras who are paying homage to the art of composition and timing. An independent jury will look to award a previously unpublished work presented in a series or photographic ensemble, allowing it to be judged for the coherence of both its form and content. For the creator of the prize, Joséphine de Bodinat Moreno and the artistic director, Audrey Bazin, it is essential that photographers positions themselves at the “reverse angle” of current trends and they will seek to award a reflective approach to image-making. A €6,000 endowment will be granted to one winner.

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Red Bull Illume Special Image Quest / Deadline: 12 July / No entry fee

Red Bull Illume has launched a new contest dedicated to showcasing the passion of photographers and videographers pushing the boundaries of creativity on Instagram during 2020. Artists can enter their best still and moving content (up to one minute) into one of three categories that explore the power of adventure and action imagery in different ways. There is also a fourth category specifically for Instagram stories which offers the most freedom and gives creators the chance to tell a story the way they choose. The winning content will be added to the Red Bull Illume Exhibit Tour that is currently travelling across around the world, providing great exposure for anyone passionate about the creative and adventure and action scene.

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Athens Photo World Awards / Deadline: 20 July / No entry fees

Athens Photo World Festival (cancelled this year due to COVID-19) was established to familiarize the public with contemporary photojournalism and highlight the important role photojournalists play today in recording history as it is written. As part of its mission, APW has launched two contests designed to support photographers through funding and exposure opportunities. The first - the €15,000 Yannis Behrakis International Photojournalism Award – is open to all photographers and will be awarded to a full-length photojournalism or documentary work. The second – the €5,000 Photojournalism Award – is aimed solely at photographers living and working in Greece or Cyprus looking to fund the completion of a documentary photography project created between January 2018 and July 2020. The winners will be announced at a special event at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center and each will be granted a solo exhibition at the 2021 edition of Athens Photo World.

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LagosPhoto Open Call - Home Museum / Deadline: 31 July / No entry fee

LagosPhoto is inviting all photographers to submit work for an online exhibition, the idea of which is to “shine your eyes” on our homes as if they were museums. “As we go about our busy lives, we often forget the small things worth preserving - what we are calling "objects of virtue" - objects that are important to each person, family and home,” writes the festival’s director Azu Nwagbogu. To participate, all you need to do is photograph a personal selection of these "objects of virtue". During LagosPhoto20, set to take place in Lagos, Nigeria later this year, a "Home Museum" will be exhibited digitally.

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Lucie Photo Book Prize / Deadline: 31 July / Entry fee: US$35 - US$55

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

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Budapest International Foto Awards / Deadline: 30 August / Entry fee: US$10 - US$50

Having first been established last 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 must enter work into one of nine categories, namely Advertising, Architecture, Book, Editorial, Events, Fine Art, Nature, People, and Science. A host of monetary awards and exhibition opportunities are on offer.

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Kassel Dummy Award / Deadline: 2 September / Entry fee: €36

Fotobookfestival Kassel has launched the 2020 edition of the Kassel Dummy Award, inviting all photographers worldwide to submit their unpublished photobook mock-ups for the chance to win exhibition and publishing opportunities in addition to monetary prizes. 50 books will be shortlisted by an independent jury and this selection will be showcased at several international photography events across both Europe and Asia. The winning book will be produced and published by Fotobookfestival Kassel’s new cooperative partner MAS, the leading Turkish photobook printing and binding house from Istanbul. Second and Third Prize winners will each get a production grant worth €2,000 and €1,000 respectively for future projects.

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Visit our awards page to get a full view of the best photography opportunities currently open for entry.