Workshops, Grants, Contests, and Deadlines

Each year, the Prince Claus Fund grants Seed Awards to 100 emerging artists who work in contexts where cultural expression is under pressure. The Seed Award is intended to support their personal and artistic development, amplify their talent, and spark a new wave of changemakers.

The Meeting Place Portfolio Review provides photographic artists with a unique chance to showcase their work to leading arts professionals from around the world. The event truly is a "meeting place" where artists can connect with Reviewers—including curators, gallery owners, photo editors, book publishers, and collectors—to network, collaborate, exchange ideas, and build lasting relationships. In many cases, Reviewers can play a crucial role in advancing careers, offering opportunities such as exhibitions, acquisitions, gallery representations, or publications. 

In photography, a single jury judges both the Breaking News category and the Feature category. Since the inception of the prizes the journalism categories have been expanded and repeatedly redefined by the Board to keep abreast of the evolution of American journalism.

• The Robert Capa Gold Medal Award
• The Olivier Rebbot Award
• The Feature Photography Award Annual awards for non-USA coverage in Newspapers, News Services, Digital, Magazines, Radio, Podcasts, Television, Video, Cartoons, Books and Photography.

Project grants support arts projects or programming that emphasize community engagement and access to the arts. Individual Artists may apply for a project grant up to $2,500. Non-profit organizations and K-12 schools may apply for up to $5,000. This category is intended for one-time or first-time projects or programs, and preference will be given to those applications. However, ongoing programs may apply. Preference will be given to applicants with operating budgets of $300,000 or less.

The Livingston Awards for Young Journalists honor outstanding achievement by professionals under the age of 35 in local, national and international reporting.

The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown has supported emerging writers and artists for over 50 years, granting 10 annual fellowships to visual artists and 10 annual fellowships to writers for a seven-month residency that runs from October 1 - April 30. Fellows are selected through a rigorous jury process. Visual Arts Fellows are provided with a private furnished apartment and a separate work studio of approximately 400 sq ft.

The competition GDT Nature Photographer of the Year is hosted by the German Society for Nature Photography (GDT – Gesellschaft für Naturfotografie e.V.). 

The Kala Art Institute Fellowship is an artist residency for local, national, and international artists. Artists producing innovative work in and across mediums including printmaking, photography, digital media, social practice, media installation, and book arts are encouraged to apply. Each year Kala conducts an international competition that awards Fellowships to six artists from a variety of disciplines based on conceptual creativity, originality, and artistic excellence.

The Scripps Howard Awards honor work from television stations, networks, radio and podcasts, visual media, online media outlets, independent producers, newspapers and print publications.

The New York Portfolio Review is produced by The New York Times photo department, Photoville and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Chicago’s best journalism from across the media spectrum.

The CatchLight Local Visual Desk empowers newsrooms to produce locally relevant and representative visual journalism that builds audience trust and engagement.

Celebrating the year's best editorial, advertising, book, promotional, unpublished and fine art photography.

Open to professional and non-professional, old and young, the Awards celebrate the very best in food photography and film from around the world.

MacDowell provides time, space, and an inspiring residential environment to artists of exceptional talent. A MacDowell Fellowship, or residency, consists of exclusive use of a studio, accommodations, and three prepared meals a day for up to six weeks. There are no residency fees, and MacDowell offers financial assistance to cover the costs of traveling to and from the residency, as well as expenses that artists expect to incur while in residence, including rent, lost income, and childcare.

Forecast offers artists and creative thinkers from anywhere in the world the chance to work with accomplished mentors toward bringing their projects to fruition. For each edition, Forecast selects six mentors from various disciplines who offer selected participants their expertise in specifying and realizing project ideas.

The awards recognize the best in professional journalism in categories covering print, radio, television, newsletters, art/graphics, online and research. The contest is open to any U.S. media outlet.

AAJA recognizes excellence in journalism by working journalists across a number of categories and platforms. Submissions of work that displays outstanding storytelling, in-depth reporting that moves the industry and cultural understandings forward, and pieces that demonstrate impact are highly encouraged.

Radio Television Digital News Association. The award honors outstanding achievements in electronic journalism and are presented to news organizations.

The fellowship is targeted at visual storytellers that are at the early stages of their career and so apart from supporting the project, the fellowship is aimed at developing you as a photographer.

Founded in 1934 by the Press Club of Atlantic City, the National Headliner Awards program is one of the oldest and largest annual contests recognizing journalistic excellence. The first National Headliner Awards were presented in 1935. Since then, more than 2,850 Headliner medallions have been presented to outstanding photographers, writers, daily newspapers, news syndicates, websites, radio and television stations, TV and radio networks and magazines. 

The PORTRAITS – Hellerau Photography Award was created in 2015.

The Eskenazi School of Art Architecture + Design at Indiana University Bloomington invites applications for a 4–6-week McKinney International Art and Design Residency. An established artist or designer will be selected whose primary country of residence is outside the United States. Applicants should be actively engaged in a contemporary artistic practice and show evidence of a national and international exhibition record. Applications from practitioners of studio disciplines, as well as criticism, are welcome.

The Nikon Photo Contest International has been held by Nikon Corporation since 1969 to provide an opportunity for photographers around the world to communicate and to enrich image-making culture for professionals and amateurs alike.

For 30 years, The Alexia grants have supported student and professional visual communicators who produce projects that inspire change by addressing socially significant topics.

Diversify Photo members may apply for a pro application fee waiver for a here: https://diversify.photo/workshops-grants-contests/alexia-fee-waiver/

Anderson Ranch’s Artists-in-Residence Program fosters creative, intellectual and professional growth for emerging and established visual artists. Residents have access to world-class facilities and studio time, free from everyday pressures. Residents can pursue interdisciplinary projects among a community of working artists, and gain feedback from prominent Visiting Artists and Critics. The Ranch setting is specifically crafted to aid artists in the production of their work. The residency is designed to allow artists to take risks and pursue new projects and ideas.

The FotoEvidence Women Award is devoted to engaged women photographers who want to tell their personal stories in the form of a photo book.

The Foundation of Lower Saxony grant at the Edith-Russ-Haus for Media Art supports a wide spectrum of media art, from video art and net-based projects to audio works and audio-visual installations.

The Risograph Residency provides the opportunity for artists to propose a photographic project to produce in print form, at our Risograph facilities in New York City. It is particularly well suited to the production of small edition photographic artist’s books.

Applications from students with a genuine passion for visual journalism are welcome. Qualified candidates will be chosen based on the quality of their portfolio work and their demonstrated commitment to academic excellence. Applicants must be a current NABJ student member in good standing.

The Risograph Residency provides the opportunity for artists to propose a photographic project to produce in print form, at our Risograph facilities in New York City. It is particularly well suited to the production of small edition photographic artist’s books.

Every year, BigPicture poses the question “What on Earth have you photographed?” as part of our annual Natural World Photography Competition with winning images displayed at the California Academy of Sciences for all visitors to enjoy. Featuring the work of award-winning nature, wildlife, and conservation photographers from around the world, the exhibit uses photography as a means to celebrate and illustrate the rich diversity of life on Earth and inspire action to protect and conserve it.

The Kalish Workshop is an inspirational and intense five-day experience led by award-winning faculty and staff members who focus on the editing and decision making aspects of visual storytelling. It is designed to benefit anyone who touches photography and video with a narrative storyline across platforms.

EMOP Berlin – European Month of Photography is the largest biennial festival of photographic images in Germany. Museums, exhibition institutions, memorials, archives, libraries, collections, cultural institutes, universities, art academies and other training locations, municipal and private galleries and project spaces from Berlin and Potsdam are - together with the exhibiting artists - the key players in this open festival format.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year showcases the world's best space photography, from spectacular skyscapes to mind-blowing images of distant planets and galaxies.

Through access, education, programming and impact investing, NXTHVN launches the careers of artists and curators and strengthens the livelihood of its local community. Located in the historically African-American Dixwell neighborhood of New Haven, CT, the expansive adapted-reuse campus houses gallery, studio, office, performance and living spaces.

Over 200 photographs from both well-known photographers and rising stars emerge from this prestigious Photography Competition. Categories include advertising, editorial, for sale, motion and unpublished.

Celebrating the year's best editorial, advertising, book, promotional, unpublished and fine art illustration.

The Indigenous Journalists Association will recognize outstanding coverage through the 2024 Indigenous Media Awards during the 2024 Indigenous Media Conference July 25-27 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City. The deadline for entries is March 8, 2024. The annual competition recognizes excellence in reporting by Indigenous and non-Indigenous journalists across the U.S. and Canada.

SPJ’s New America Award honors public service journalism that explores and exposes an issue of importance to immigrant or ethnic communities currently living in the United States. Although not required, collaboration with ethnic media is taken into account.

A weeklong residential workshop designed specifically for female photographers and editors who want to learn to better organize, edit, and sequence their visual work, while exploring how to harness their power as female storytellers.

This residency will provide up to one year of room and board to a person who demonstrates a strong project that addresses ending Systemic Racism and who has a necessity to be in New York City for up to one year. They will reside at the Penington Friends House located in New York City’s Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Bayard Rustin Resident will demonstrate a need to live in Manhattan. Areas of focus of their work can include activism in the arts, policy change, human rights, community organizing, and other areas of activism focusing on ending racism and strengthening equality. Residents will meet regularly with the Residency Manager and will be expected to share their progress with the New York City community in the form of presentations or workshops. The resident does not have to be Quaker but their work should be shaped by and in harmony with our tenants of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship. The resident will be expected to be a full-time resident of PFH and be participating member of this intentional community

All amateur and professional photographers are invited to embark on a photographic journey of discovery and capture impressive pictures of the many facets of Europe's natural world.

Excellence in Photojournalism Award

The NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists Excellence in Journalism Awards were established in 1993 to foster and recognize excellence in journalism on issues related to the LGBTQ+ community. The Excellence in Journalism Awards are open to anyone, including non-members and journalists who do not identify as LGBTQ+

Jeanne Córdova Award

The Jeanne Córdova Award recognizes the achievement of an LGBTQ woman for a current body of work in journalism and/or opinion, with an emphasis on but not exclusively coverage of issues of importance to the LGBTQ community, in any medium and on any platform.

The Light Work Grants in Photography program was established in 1975 to support photographers in Central New York. The $3,000 grants are awarded to encourage the creation of new work. The work of the grant recipients is exhibited at Light Work and reproduced in Contact Sheet: The Light Work Annual.

The National Geographic Society warmly welcomes and encourages applicants from historically and currently underrepresented and underserved populations to apply. National Geographic is committed to funding a diverse and globally representative cohort of Explorers.

Upcoming Grant: The Ocean Exploration and Discovery: Request for Proposals Throughout history, stories from oceanic expeditions, such as those led by National Geographic Explorers at Large Sylvia Earle and Bob Ballard, have left people with a sense of adventure and, most importantly, urgency for protecting our blue planet. In 2022, a partnership between Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI) and the National Geographic Society was forged to advance ocean science and exploration. The Society and SOI are now recruiting early career scientists who can lead ship-based research, technology, or conservation projects aboard SOI’s Falkor (too) research vessel in 2025 when it will traverse the southeast coast of South America.

The Nature Photographer of the Year competition is open to residents of every country and to almost all ages starting from 10 years old.

sipa is one of the photo contests with the highest international participation ever. 2022 edition has received nearly 48.000 images from amateur and professional photographers from 156 countries worldwide.

Each year Light Work invites 12-15 artists to participate in its residency program, including one artist co-sponsored by Autograph ABP, and two artists co-sponsored by the Darryl Chappel Foundation. Artists selected for the residency program are invited to live in Syracuse for one month. They receive a $5,000 stipend, an apartment to stay in, a private digital studio, a private darkroom, and 24-hour access to our facility.