Documentary Photography Grants and Fellowships

Note: SDN takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information presented here. We encourage grant seekers to visit the website of each organization to determine actual submission requirements.

The Aaron Siskind Foundation
Individual Photographer Fellowship
www.aaronsiskind.org/grant.html
Who May Apply: U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents of the United States, who reside in the U.S., and who are at least 21 years of age.
Application Deadline: May 24, 2013.
Application fee: $10.
Amount: $10,000 each.

The Aftermath Project Grant
www.theaftermathproject.org/
The Aftermath Project holds a yearly grant competition open to working photographers worldwide covering the aftermath of conflict. In addition, through partnerships with universities, photography institutions and non-profit organizations, the Project seeks to help broaden the public’s understanding of the true cost of war— and the real price of peace — through international traveling exhibitions and educational outreach in communities and schools.
Application deadline: November, 2013. See application form for details.
Amount: $10,000.

Alexia Foundation
www.alexiafoundation.org/grants
The Alexia Foundation offers production grants to students and professional photographers to give them the financial ability to produce substantial stories that drive change in the effort to make the world a better place.
Application deadline: Last deadline was January 2013. Check website for 2014.
Amount: $15,000 for professional award; student awards for the first three winners (undergraduate or graduate) include full tuition for fall semester at the SU London Program and $150-$1000 cash grants.

Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellowship
http://aliciapatterson.org/about-foundation
To foster, promote, sustain and improve the best traditions of American journalism, the Alicia Patterson Foundation will provide support for journalists engaged in rigorous, probing, spirited, independent and skeptical work that will benefit the public. The foundation will support journalism and will foster a community of journalists engaged in truthfully informing the public. One-year and six month grants are awarded to working journalists to pursue independent projects of significant interest and to write articles based on their investigations for The APF Reporter, a web published magazine by the Foundation and available on the web.
Winners are chosen by an annual competition. The competition opens in June and all entries must be postmarked by October 1. Applications are accepted from U.S. citizens who are print journalists with at least five years of professional experience.
Application Deadline: October 1
Amount: $20,000 for 6-months fellowship, $40,000 for 12-month fellowship
Application fee: $0
 

Anthropographia Human Rights Through Visual Storytelling Award
www.anthropographia.org/2013/
Application deadline: May 7, 2013
Amount: $3,000.

A Blade of Grass Grants
www.abladeofgrass.org/apply/guidelines/
A Blade of Grass Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art: one-year fellowship for socially engaged individual artists and collectives.
Application deadline: December 2, 2013. Check website for guidelines in September 2013.
Amount: $20,000 each to seven-ten artists or collectives.

Organizational Project Grants: awarded in support of socially engaged art projects that bring participants into dialogue with the artist(s), embrace audiences beyond the art community, and aim to promote social change.
Application deadline: January 2014. Check website for guidelines in September 2013.
Amount: $20,000 each.

A Blade of Grass Distinguished Artist Fellowship: awarded to a select number of artists per year who are realizing socially engaged art projects of ambitious scale.
Application deadline: artists are selected by nomination only.
Amount: $50,000 per year for up to three years.

The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
CDS Documentary Essay Prize
http://documentarystudies.duke.edu/awards/cds-documentary-essay-prize
The new CDS Documentary Essay Prize honors the best in documentary photography and writing in alternating years: one year, photos; one year, writing. The focus is on current or recently completed work (within the last two years) from a long-term project—fifteen images; fifteen to twenty pages of writing.
Application deadline: Last deadline was February 2013. Check website for 2014.
Amount: $3,000; work featured in Document, a periodical published by the Center for Documentary Studies, as well as in a virtual gallery on the Center’s website; take part in CDS’s Documentary Writer Speaker Series.

The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
CDS/Honickman First Book Prize in Photography

http://firstbookprizephoto.com/apply
American and Canadian photographers who pursue work of creative or social importance have too few opportunities for support and recognition. This is especially true when photographers are engaged in personal or in-depth projects that do not have direct commercial appeal.
Application deadline: Deadline for 2013 has passed. Check website for 2014.
Amount: $3,000; publication of a book of photography; inclusion in a website devoted to presenting the work of the prizewinners.

The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize

http://documentarystudies.duke.edu/awards/dorothea-lange-paul-taylor-prize
This year, CDS is proud to re-launch the Lange-Taylor Prize, which supports documentary artists—working alone or in teams—who are involved in extended, ongoing fieldwork projects that rely on and exploit, in intriguing and effective ways, the interplay of words and images in the creation and presentation of their work.
Application deadline: May 7, 2013.
Application fee: $65
Amount: $10,000; solo exhibition at the Center for Documentary Studies; inclusion in the Archive of Documentary Arts at Rubenstein Library, Duke University.

The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and Daylight Books
Daylight Photo Awards

http://www.daylightphotoawards.com/
Application deadline: May 1, 2013.
Application fee: $35.
Amount: $1000; solo exhibition at the Daylight Project Space; multimedia feature; a set of Daylight Books.

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
The Dart Center Ochberg Fellowship

http://dartcenter.org/ochberg-fellowship-guidelines
Reporting responsibly and credibly on violence or traumatic events — on street crime and family violence, natural disasters and accidents, war and genocide — is a great challenge. Since 1999 the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, a project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, has offered the annual Ochberg Fellowships to outstanding journalists interested in exploring these critical issues.Fellowships are open to print, broadcast and online reporters, photographers, editors and producers with no fewer than five years’ full-time journalism experience. Approximately half of the Fellowship participants are based in North America, with the balance drawn from Central and South America, Europe, the Asia Pacific region, Africa and the Mideast.
Application deadline: October 11, 2013.

FotoEvidence Book Award
http://www.fotoevidence.com/book-award
The competition is open to professional and amateur photographers. Submit up to 15 images from one project. If you are selected for the FotoEvidence Book Award you will be asked to submit 100-120 photographs on the same topic.
Application deadline: January 15, 2014.
Application fee: $50.

FotoVisura Grant for Outstanding Personal Photography Project and Spotlight Grant for Outstanding Student Photography Project
http://grant.fotovisura.com/
$2000 / $1000 cash prize for first placement (respectively professional and student awards) and various exhibit and publishing invitations.
Application deadline: Deadline for 2013 has passed. Check website for 2014.

The Hillman Prize for Photojournalism
http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/hillman-prize
Since 1950, the Sidney Hillman Foundation has honored journalists who pursue investigative reporting and deep storytelling in service of the common good. Sidney Hillman was the founding president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union of America, a predecessor union of Workers United, SEIU. Sidney Hillman, an architect of the New Deal, fought to build a vibrant union movement extending beyond the shop floor to all aspects of workers’ lives.
Application Deadline: January 31, 2014
Amount: $5,000

International Photography Awards
http://www.photoawards.com/en/Pages/Enter/submit.php
Application deadline: May 31, 2013 (early bird deadline April 30, 2013.)
Application fee: $15-$ 35 per image, $30-$60 per series, according to category.
Grant Amount: $10,000 and Lucie statue for International Photographer of the Year; $5,000 and Lucie statue for Discovery of the Year (non-professional and student;) $5,000 and Lucie statue for Deeper Perspective Photographer of the Year (professional, non-professional and student;) $2,500 and Lucie statue for Moving Images Photographer of the Year.

JGS (Joy of Giving Something) Quarterly Photography Contest
The Forward Thinking Museum

http://www.forwardthinkingmuseum.com/
Application deadline: June 30, 2013.
Grant Amount: $1,000 for quarterly winners and their work will be featured in a solo exhibition at the Forward Thinking Museum; $5,000 for annual winners of the JGS Artist Award.

The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film Grant
http://www.mrofoundation.org/?page/84068/photography-grants
The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation calls for project proposals along with portfolios to highlight human unrest, forgotten communities, over-exploited people and environments impacted by war, poverty, famine, disease, exploitation and global distress. The foundation will award a $5000 grant to the winning documentary/reporting project proposal. The finalists will be exhibited in July and August during the Rencontres d'Arles Fotofestival in Arles, France,
Application Deadline: March 31, 2014
Grant Amount: $5,000
Application fee: $0

The Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography
New Orleans Photo Alliance

http://www.neworleansphotoalliance.org/grants/MPS_Fund/
The Michael P. Smith Fund For Documentary Photography (MPS Fund) was created by the New Orleans Photo Alliance to honor the life and work of Michael P. Smith, one of New Orleans’ most legendary and beloved documentary photographers. Both emerging and established photographers residing in the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are eligible to apply for the MPS Fund’s annual $5000 grant. The subject matter for the proposed project is not limited to the Gulf Coast region.
Application deadline: Last deadline was March 2013. Check website for 2014.
Application fee: $25. Application fee + NOPA membership: $60.
Amount: $5000.

Open Society Foundation
Audience Engagement Grant

http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/audience-engagement-grant
The Audience Engagement Grant supports photographers to take an existing body of work on a social justice or human rights issue and devise an innovative and effective way of using that work as a tool for social change.
Application deadline: June 18, 2013.
Amount: $10,000–$30,000.

Open Society Foundation
Moving Walls Grant

http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/moving-walls
The Moving Walls exhibition series showcases documentary photography that highlights human rights and social issues that coincide with the Open Society Foundations’ mission.
Application deadline: Last deadline was February 2013. Check website for 2014

Open Society Foundation
Individual Production Grant, Documentary Photography Project

http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/production-grants-individuals
The Open Society Documentary Photography Project offers grants for documentary photographers from Central Asia, the South Caucasus, Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Pakistan. With these grants, we support visual documentation of important human rights and social issues in the region and provide training and mentorship to local photographers.
Application deadline: Deadline for 2013 has passed. Check website for 2014
Amount: Ten cash stipends of $3,500 each.

POYi (Picture of the Year international)
http://www.poyi.org
Dozens of awards, prizes and, categories.
Application deadline: See website for 2014 deadlines
Amount: See website for 2014 awards

Proof: Media for Social Justice
Emerging Photojournalist Award

http://proof.org/emerging-photojournalist-program/
Application deadline: May 1, 2013.
Amount: First place will receive a $2,500 grant used to finance a photography project that promotes social change and human rights and will be mentored by Ed Kashi from VII. Second and third place will receive mentoring from well-known photojournalists. The top three entries will be shown at an exhibit in the VII gallery in New York City.

The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting
http://pulitzercenter.org/grants/how-apply
Special Grant opportunities for students and non-native, English speaking journalists (http://pulitzercenter.org/grants/persephone-miel-fellowship)
Travel grants: The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting funds international travel costs associated with reporting projects on topics and regions of global importance, with an emphasis on issues that have gone unreported or under-reported in the mainstream American media.
Application deadline: Rolling
Amount: $2,000 - $10,000 (depending on project and budget planning.)

The Royal Photographic Society
The Joan Wakelin Hon FRPS Bursary

http://www.rps.org/bursaries
Application deadline: Check website for details on 2013 deadline.
Amount: £2,000; the winning photoessay will be published by Guardian News and Media and The RPS Journal.

Social Justice Reporting for a Global America: International Reporting Fellowship Program, for U.S.-based Journalists
http://www.icfj.org/our-work/social-justice-reporting-global-america
Selected journalists attend a week-long orientation at ICFJ’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., in May, where they will fine-tune their reporting projects and will gain new reporting skills to work overseas. Following orientation, fellows will report in the field for up to two weeks. Upon returning to the United States, they will finish their stories and broadcast or publish them by September.
Application deadline: Last deadline was February 2013. Check website for 2014.

Sony International Photography Awards
The World Photography Organization

http://www.worldphoto.org/about-the-sony-world-photography-awards/
Application deadline: Last deadline was January 2013. Check website for 2014.

Vienna International Photo Awards
http://thevipawards.com/2013/
The Vienna International Photo Awards, or VIPA for short, mission is to draw more attention to documentary photography in Austria and worldwide.
Application deadline: April 30, 2013.
Amount: 4.000 EUR for professional; 3.000 EUR for amateur; 2.000 EUR for smartphone.

W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund
http://smithfund.org/
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 and dedicated compassion exhibited during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist.
Application deadline: May 31, 2013.
Amount: $30,000.