Through photography, journalists can reveal truth, expose injustices and tell stories that might otherwise go unnoticed.
“My photographs are a vector between what happens in the world and people who cannot witness what happens,” said famous Brazilian photojournalist Sebastião Salgado.
Yet, it can be difficult for the professionals behind the lens to find competitions, scholarships and awards to boost their careers and allow them to continue reporting through images. This is true even more so in a reality where sustainability of media and journalism is at stake, and resources are low.
Below, LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) presents a list of international opportunities that stand out for their support of photojournalism and documentary photography. From awards for travel photographers to scholarships for humanitarian and environmental projects, these resources offer both recognition and financial support and mentorship to carry out photographic projects in the coming months.
The opportunities below are ordered chronologically, with the earliest deadline appearing first.
The Open Doors Gallery in London, England, created an annual competition a decade ago to discover the best emerging photography talent from around the world.
This year's applications are open until Aug. 16. The application fee is £15 (US $19).
There is no specific topic to follow. The projects presented must consist of 6 and 15 images and be accompanied by descriptions and contextualization.
This award celebrates the entire spectrum of photographic art (collage, documentary, portrait, conceptual, sculptural, mixed media, etc.). However, photography must be the central element of the work.
The winner will receive a cash prize of 2,000 pounds sterling, about $2,550. You will also get mentoring and be able to exhibit your work in the gallery.
Photographers up to 24 years old can apply for the Ian Parry scholarship and receive financial support, mentoring and assistance with their work. The idea of the call is to support young people in promoting their careers as photojournalists.
The application is free and can be submitted until Aug. 31. The participant must send their portfolio and a project idea to develop upon receiving the scholarship.
Ian Parry died, aged 24, while covering the Romanian revolution in 1989 for The Sunday Times. (Photo: The Ian Parry Memorial Fund).
This year there will be two awards: the Tom Stoddart Award for Excellence and the Ian Parry Grant. Each winner will receive 10,000 pounds sterling, the equivalent of US $12,700. They will also receive mentoring, photography equipment, portfolio review and publication of their images in The Guardian.
This scholarship was created three decades ago in honor of photojournalist Ian Parry who died, aged 24, while covering the Romanian revolution in 1989 for The Sunday Times.
The global humanitarian organization Action contre la faim (Action against Hunger), founded in France in 1979, launched the second edition of its project grant for a new humanitarian perspective.
The winner must “feed a collective reflection on the development of multimedia language in the humanitarian field.” To do this, they will receive a scholarship of 10 thousand euros (about US $11,000) to carry out a project, which will be exhibited starting in October 2025. They will also receive mentoring from Azu Nwagbogu, president of the scholarship jury, director of the LagosPhoto Festival and the Foundation of African Artists.
Applications are free and close Aug. 31.
Vital Impacts, a women-led nonprofit, is offering one $20,000 grant to one established environmental photographer and six $5,000 grants to emerging photographers around the world to develop documentary projects focused on environmental stories.
Additionally, Vital Impacts will select ten emerging photographers to participate in an intensive mentoring program and invite all applicants to participate in a series of online mentorships.
The fee to submit the project proposal is US $25 and the deadline is Sept. 15. The winners will be announced in October.
Vital Impacts is open to receiving proposals from anywhere in the world but says, on its website, that it is particularly interested in projects related to the Amazon rainforest.
Luis Valtueña International Humanitarian Photography Award was created in honor of a Spanish photographer and contributor to Doctors of the World, who died in Rwanda in 1997 while working for this organization. (Photo: Doctors of the World).
Doctors of the World Spain has opened the call for the 28th edition of this award, intended to recognize and disseminate the best works of humanitarian and documentary photography.
"The organization is committed to documentary photography and photojournalism to raise public awareness of social issues and encourage citizen mobilization, in order to contribute to the eradication of the worst of diseases: injustice," the organization says in the rules of the award.
Some of these issues include: violation of human rights, armed conflicts, refugees, migration, health crises, social exclusion, among others.
Applications close on Oct. 4 and there is no cost to submit.
The prize is US $6,000 for the winner. In addition, all the selected works, both the winning series and those of the finalists, will be part of a traveling exhibition produced by Doctors of the World.
Luis Valtueña was a Spanish photographer and contributor to Doctors of the World, who died in Rwanda in 1997 while working for this organization.
Until Oct. 6, photographers from all over the world can compete in the different categories of the Travel Photographer of the Year Award.
There are awards in 4 portfolio categories and 4 single image categories. There is also a special category for young photographers, an award for emerging talent and the overall award for best travel photographer.
To enter the competition, photographers must pay a fee ranging from US $12 to $55, depending on the category. The winner can receive up to US $2,000.
The award was created in 2002 by professional travel photographer Chris Coe, who became increasingly frustrated by the limited perception of travel photography among buyers and image editors, as explained on the award's website.
This grant is intended to help a photographer start a photography project, continue an ongoing work, or help complete an ongoing project. There are no age limits or location restrictions.
This year, the winner of the W. Eugene Smith Scholarship will receive US $30,000. An additional US $10,000 scholarship and a runner-up scholarship of US $7,500 will be awarded.
“The judges will be looking for a photographer and project that seem most likely to use exemplary and compelling photojournalism and documentary photography (possibly supplemented by or incorporating multi-media) to address an issue of import and impact related to the human condition,” the Smith Fund, which is in charge of the grant, wrote on its website.
The fee to submit an application is US $50. Photographers who are unable to pay the fee must apply for a fee waiver from a designated organization (listed on the website) by Sept. 24.
Applications close on Oct. 8 and those selected will be announced in December.
The Fund was established in 1979 to seek out and encourage strong independent voices, in honor of the American reporter and photographer W. Eugene Smith. It also seeks to promote humanistic photography, a movement that aims to highlight the human figure in images.
Pictures of the Year International, which began in 1944, is a program of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism. This photographic contest “shows the value of photojournalism and allows people to interpret the news and historic events through an empathetic lens,” according to the program’s website.
Submissions for the 82nd POY International will open in December, are open to anyone in the world and cost US $50.
Created in 2011, POY Latam celebrates excellence in documentary and artistic photography in Ibero-America.
About 70,000 images from 1,500 photographers were submitted in 2023, according to the award’s website. POY Latam, which is held every two years, features multiple categories, including news, human rights, sports and more.
This year, Gabo prize winner was “The Night of the Horses: South America’s Largest Equine Rescue,” by Anita Pouchard Serra for Revista Gatopardo. (Photo: Gatopardo)
The next edition will be in 2025, but an application has not yet launched. Submission is free.
The most prestigious journalism award in Latin America also has a photography category that awards the best photographic coverage work in the region each year.
Applications for the 2025 Gabo Prize are not yet open, but they usually open between January and February.
This year, the winner was “The Night of the Horses: South America’s Largest Equine Rescue,” by Anita Pouchard Serra for Revista Gatopardo. The jury considered it a “necessary, raw and denunciatory photo report with a powerful charge of tenderness and reflection on multispecies life on the planet.”
As part of its Excellence in Journalism Awards, the Inter-American Press Association has a category for photography and video.
First place receives US $2,000. Applications for 2024 are now closed, but the call is usually open between June and May each year.
IAPA just announced the finalists for this year’s award, which include projects from Mullu TV and Mongabay Latam, The Outlaw Ocean Project and La Nación of Argentina.
