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Smith Fund Increases Applicant Diversity, Waives Fees
19 February 2019
To increase the diversity of entrants and make it easier for more photographers to submit their work for grant consideration, the Smith Fund has partnered with six international organizations to encourage its members to submit their work. The Smith Fund has also given each organization the ability to waive entry fees for members based on the quality of work and financial need.
Organizations partnering with the Smith Fund include African Photojournalism Database, Authority Collective, Diversify Photo, Foto Féminas, Natives Photograph and Women Photograph. The organizations provide media outlets, art buyers and editorial directors with a portfolio of diverse international talent whose work is often ignored or overlooked.
"Historically, the photojournalism community has been overwhelmingly homogenous" said Daniella Zalcman, Smith Fund board member and founder of Women Photograph. "This initiative is meant to open doors for a more diverse range of documentary photographers who may not have had access to career-defining opportunities like the Smith Grant in the past. We're looking forward to partnering with these organizations to build a more inclusive applicant pool and photographic community."
Members of each organization will receive an invitation to submit a brief 500-word (or less) description of a current project and explain why their application fee for the W. Eugene Smith Grant should be waived. All members are welcome to directly apply for the Smith Grant or Howard Chapnick Grant at SmithFund.org. Photographers meeting basic guidelines established by each organization listed are welcome to join at no cost.
W. Eugene Smith Fund Partners with International Community to Assist Exceptional Documentary Photographers, Waive Grant Application Fees
Partnerships Created to Increase Diversity of Entrants Worldwide; Gives Photo Organizations
Flexibility to Underwrite Member Application Fees at Their Own Discretion
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The W. Eugene Smith Fund announced it is partnering with six internationally-acclaimed photo organizations to encourage documentary photographers from a variety of demographic and socio-economic backgrounds to submit their work to the annual Smith Fund Grant and Fellowships. The partnerships give each organization the ability to waive the $50 application fee based on each project's merit and photographer's financial need. Organizations will also waive the $25 application fee for select entries to the Howard Chapnick Grant, which honors an individual for his or her leadership in any field ancillary to photojournalism such as picture editing, research, education and management.
Now in its 40th year, the W. Eugene Smith Fund presents more than $50,000 in grants, fellowships and special awards annually and has awarded more than $1 million to photographers internationally since 1979. Last year, the Smith Fund received more than 314 entries from 53 countries, the most ever submitted.
International organizations partnering with the W. Eugene Smith Fund include African Photojournalism Database, Authority Collective, Diversify Photo, Foto Féminas, Natives Photograph and Women Photograph. Collectively, these organizations provide media outlets, art buyers and editorial directors with an expansive portfolio of diverse international talent whose work is often ignored or overlooked.
"Historically, the photojournalism community has been overwhelmingly homogenous. This initiative is meant to open doors for a more diverse range of documentary photographers who may not have had access to career-defining opportunities like the Smith Grant in the past," explains Daniella Zalcman, Smith Fund board member and founder of Women Photograph. "We're looking forward to partnering with these organizations to build a more inclusive applicant pool and photographic community."
Members of each organization will receive an invitation to submit a brief 500-word (or less) description of a current project and explain why their application fee for the W. Eugene Smith Grant should be waived. All members are welcome to directly apply for the Smith Grant or Howard Chapnick Grant at SmithFund.org. Photographers meeting basic guidelines established by each organization listed are welcome to join at no cost.
African Photojournalism Database
The African Photojournalism Database is a directory of emerging and professional African news photographers, photojournalists and documentary photographers reporting on cultural, economic, environmental, political and social issues on the continent, as well as sports, nature and stories of everyday life. It is a joint project of the World Press Photo Foundation and Everyday Africa, launched in August 2016 and created to help photographers and visual journalists better connect to the international media economy. It also helps international media better understand the issues and projects that African visual journalists consider important and have covered. The database allows the World Press Photo Foundation to connect with photojournalists in Africa and enables Everyday Africa to seek new contributors.
Diversify Photo
Diversify was born out of a recognition that calling for more diversity in the photo industry is not enough. To diversify photo, we need to equip Art Buyers, Creative Directors and Photo Directors with resources to discover photographers of color available for assignments and commissions.
Foto Féminas
Foto Féminas is a platform dedicated to promoting the work of female photographers working in Latin America and the Caribbean. through monthly online feature stories.
Natives Photograph
Natives Photograph is a space to elevate the work of Indigenous visual journalists and bring balance to the way we tell stories about Indigenous people and spaces. Their mission is to support the media industry in hiring more Indigenous photographers, tell the stories of their communities and to reflect on how we tell these stories. Their database consists of working storytellers on Turtle Island (North America) and is available to photo editors, creative directors and those who routinely hire photographers.
Women Photograph
Women Photograph is an initiative that launched in 2017 to elevate the voices of women visual journalists. The private database includes more than 850 independent women documentary photographers based in 99 countries and is available privately to any commissioning editor or organization. Women Photograph also operates an annual series of project grants for emerging and established photojournalists, a year-long mentorship program and a travel fund to help female photographers access workshops, festivals and other developmental opportunities. Their mission is to shift the gender makeup of the photojournalism community and ensure that the industry's chief storytellers are as diverse as the communities they hope to represent.
The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund is supported by generous contributions from The Incite Project, Herb Ritts Foundation, Canon USA and The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation. Additional support is provided by Aperture, Brilliant Graphics, Center for Creative Photography, the International Center of Photography, MediaStorm, Photo District News, School of Visual Arts MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department, School of Visual Arts MPS Digital Photography and Synergy Communications.