March's Photography Grants and Awards

Award season is hotting up in the photography industry with many exciting opportunities open for entry this month, including Cortona On The Move New Visions, the Kassel Dummy Award, the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, and many more. Learn how they can support your work and career.

Award season is hotting up in the photography industry with many exciting opportunities open for entry this month, including Cortona On The Move New Visions, the Kassel Dummy Award, the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize, and many more. Learn how they can support your work and career.

Cortona On The Move New Visions / Deadline: 17 March / No entry fee

© Nanna Heitmann, from the series Hiding from Baba Yaga. 2019 New Visions winner

Cortona On The Move, moving into its tenth edition this year, has continued its creative partnership with LensCulture to create a free open call that seeks strong and original documentary work from all over the world. The idea of ‘New Visions’ stems from the festival’s desire to closely follow emerging trends and the ever-changing language of the photographic medium. “In the spirit of our motto “on the move”, we will value the originality of style and language with which the works have been conceived and created” say the curatorial team. “Concept and execution go hand in hand, and the output should strive to attract a broad audience and to surprise, provoke, inform, and move. Novelty in form and content are our keywords” they add.

10 finalists will have their work showcased during a projection at the 2020 edition of Cortona On The Move, set to take place from 7 July through 18 October. Among these, two winners will further be granted a solo exhibition at the festival and an additional two projects will be featured on LensCulture’s website and network. The selection committee once again features four industry experts in the form of Jim Casper (Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of LensCulture), Arianna Rinaldo (Artistic Director of Cortona On The Move), Laura Sackett (Creative Director of LensCulture), and Antonio Carloni (Director of Cortona On The Move). The deadline for entries is 17 March. Further information can be found at cortonaonthemove.com.

Kassel Dummy Award / Deadline: 23 April / 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Kassel has launched the 2020 edition of the Kassel Dummy Award, inviting all photographers worldwide to submit their unpublished photobook mock-ups for the chance to win exhibition and publishing opportunities in addition to monetary prizes.

In the first round of judging, 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. From these 50 titles, three winners will be chosen by a second panel during Photo 2020, to be held in Melbourne, Australia throughout May this year. 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. There is an entry fee of €36 per book with options for the return of your dummies after the competition has concluded. Registration closes on 23 April. To find out more, visit fotobookfestival.org.

Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize / Deadline: 15 May / US$70

First launched back in 1990, the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize was created by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University to encourage collaboration between documentary writers and photographers in the tradition of the acclaimed photographer Dorothea Lange and writer and social scientist Paul Taylor. In 1941 Lange and Taylor published An American Exodus, a book that renders human experience eloquently in text and images and remains a seminal work in documentary studies.

The award is intended to support artists, working alone or in teams, who are engaged in extended, ongoing fieldwork projects that fully exploit the relationship of words and images in the powerful, persuasive representation of a subject. The winner will receive US$10,000, features in Center for Documentary Studies’ digital publications, and inclusion in the Archive of Documentary Arts at Rubenstein Library, Duke University. Applicants must submit up to 19 images (photographs/graphics + text) in digital format from an ongoing project, a one-page project description, a one-page statement that addresses the use and relationship of words and images in the work, and a one-page biography. Entries must be sent before midnight EST on 15 May. Learn more at documentarystudies.duke.edu/awards/lange-taylor.

Canon Giovani Fotografi Award / Deadline: 22 April / No entry fee

Open solely to young Italian photographers between the ages of 18 and 35, the Canon Giovani Fotografi Award returns for its 15th edition with Tell Us a Story as the main theme. “Stories are a source of inspiration and their narration through the photographic language is a challenge that excites and stimulates” say the award’s organisers. “The theme is open to multiple interpretations and points of view because the challenge is to present new works that are a free expression of creativity” they add.

The traditional Photography Award category returns once more, the winner of which will receive tutorship sessions with industry leaders, Canon digital imaging equipment, and a place in the official exhibition program at the 2020 edition of Cortona On The Move, set to take place from 7 July to 18 October. Also, for the first time this year, Canon will be granting a special award to a student photographer as part of their efforts to help develop talent and foster creative relationships. The eight-member jury includes Arianna Rinaldo (Artistic Director, Cortona On The Move), Renata Ferri (Photo Editor, Io Donna), Giulia Ticozzi (Photo Editor, La Repubblica), Maysa Moroni (Photo Editor, Internazionale), Manila Camarini (Photo Editor, Repubblica), Federica Rossi (Photo Editor, Le Monde), Alessia Glaviano (Photo Editor, Vogue), and Massimiliano Ceravolo (Professional Imaging Group and B2C Marketing Director, Canon Italia SpA). The application deadline is 22 April. No entry fee. More information can be found at ww2.canon.it/giovanifotografi.

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OTHER DEADLINES APPROACHING:

Prix Elysée / Deadline: 9 March / No entry fee

Organised by Musée de l’Elysée, the Prix Elysée is open to promising photographers or artists using photography who have already enjoyed their first exhibitions and publications. Photographers must be recommended by a reputed professional in the fields of photography, contemporary art, cinema, fashion, journalism, or publishing. There is no imposed theme or preference for any particular photographic genre or technique. The winner will receive CHF80,000 to be divided between the completion of the proposed project and the publication of an accompanying book within one year.

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Foam Talent Call / Deadline: 24 March / Entry fee: €35

The Foam Talent Call is an international competition for photographers between the ages of 18 and 35, acting as a platform that helps emerging talents earn global recognition and exposure to industry leaders. Selected photographers will receive a number of career-building opportunities, including publication in Foam Magazine, participation in a travelling group exhibition that has previously toured Amsterdam, London, New York, and Paris, and a place in the prestigious art collection of Deutsche Börse.

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Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award / Deadline: 27 March / No entry fee

Established back in 2016 to support early-to-mid-career photographers in the UK, the Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award offers a cash bursary of £2,000 to help a professional photographer with the production and promotion of brand new work or projects in the early stages of development. The contest looks specifically to fund narrative photography that focuses on human stories within a social or political context.

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Julia Margaret Cameron Award / Deadline: 29 March / Entry fee: US$35 - US$60

Moving into its 15th edition this year, the Julia Margaret Cameron Award is designed to showcase the female perspective in visual storytelling. The contest is divided into Professional and Amateur categories, which themselves are further split into 23 sub-categories, and for the first time this year male photographers are eligible to participate yet only in the Feminine Universe sub-category. The two judges - Elizabeth Avedon (Independent Curator and Photo Editor) and Mona Kuhn (Photographer) – will together assign US$21,300 in monetary prizes and select three overall winners who will each earn representation with FotoNostrum, Mediterranean House of Photography, in Barcelona.

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FIF - International Festival of Photography of Belo Horizonte Open Call / Deadline: 10 April / No entry fee

The Brazilian festival is inviting artists from all around the world to submit works for the opportunity to be part of the exhibition program in its fourth edition later this year. Selected works will be showcased in various cultural spaces around the city of Belo Horizonte, with the aim of intensifying the exchanges and visual dialogue between the city’s population and contemporary image-making.

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Landskrona Foto & Breadfield Dummy Award 2020 / Deadline: 15 April / €30

The Landskrona Foto Dummy Award will grant one winner the opportunity to have their project published by Breadfield Press and Landskrona Foto during 2021. The prize includes all expenses for book production such as design, printing and distribution, and the photographer will also receive a large number of books to distribute and sell. The winner will be invited to Landskrona Foto Festival 2020 to receive the award. Simply by entering for the contest, photographers will also be part of a slide show that will be screened during the Photobook days section of the festival.

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W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography / Deadline: 30 April / Entry fee: US$50

The W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography is presented annually to a photographer whose past work and proposed project, as judged by a panel of experts, follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s concerned photography. This year, the amount of the Grant will be US$40,000, while an additional US$5,000 Grant will be dispersed as a Fellowship, and two finalists deemed worthy of special recognition will each be awarded US$2,500.

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Prix Virginia / Deadline: 7 May / No entry fee

Prix Virginia, awarded by the Sylvia S. Association, 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 the 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 shortlisted photographers, and Filigranes editions will publish a book of the winner’s photographs and the 10 shortlisted photographers.

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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.