Photography News

April 14, 2014 /Photography News/ The Alexia Foundation is pleased to announce the call for entries for the 2014 Women's Initiative Grant which will provide a $25,000 grant for a project to be produced on a significant issue involving and affecting women anywhere in the world.

The Alexia Foundation's main purpose is to encourage and help photojournalists create stories that drive change. While the traditional grant guidelines put no limits on the subject matter for grant proposals, a number of proposals about women's rights in the last few years have been so powerful that we have been compelled to create a grant specifically on issues relating to women.

Unlike the first Women's Initiative grant, which specifically focused on abuse of women in the United States, this call for entries is open to photographers any where in the world and is intended to permit the photographer to produce a serious documentary photographic project encompassing any issue involving women anywhere in the world.

While considering the idea of women's issues, several themes that have been suggested, including: femininity and the culture of abuse; women making a difference, leading, changing things for the better; gender inequality; the direct connection to women and education, and the impact on birth rates, health of children and the productivity of the women; gender discrimination, women in leadership, women in the military, mental health issues. They are by no means intended to influence your proposal, but they may help you start thinking about this topic. They are, in fact, just general themes.

Eligibility:

Photographers and visual journalists from any country may apply for this Grant. Proposals for projects that have already received grants or awards of more than $1,000 in the previous calendar year are not eligible. The Grant is made to an individual photographer; project proposals that involve multiple content producers will not be accepted.

Judging Criteria:

The Grant was established to help promote greater awareness of issues surrounding and impacting women. The strength of your proposal will be judged equally to your photographic skills. The Grant goes to those who clearly and concisely propose significant projects that share in the Foundation’s mission and who demonstrate the ability to accomplish their proposals by showing photographs of the highest caliber. Photographs you submit with your proposal may be about your proposal’s subject or of past work that is of a similar type.

A well-written statement of purpose proposal is required. This is not a portfolio competition. The grant will be awarded to a photojournalist who can write a concise, focused, and meaningful story proposal concerning women’s abuse and who can demonstrate the ability to visually execute that story with compelling images. 

Applications will be judged in two rounds. First, members of the Alexia photojournalism advisory board, the Alexia Board and its executive advisors will review portfolios and move those demonstrating strongest visual storytelling skills to a second round. 

In the second round, judges first read and rank the story proposals for all those portfolios brought forward. If no judge thinks the proposal is worth considering, the portfolio will not be reviewed in the second round. A winner is chosen based on the judges' determination of the combination of the strongest proposal and photography.

All applications are expected to adhere to photojournalism ethical standards. 

Deadline: June 30, 2014 at 2p.m. EST

The winner will have six months or until March 1, 2015 to complete the project.

For more information visit http://www.alexiafoundation.org/grants/womensinitiative2014

To view all current call for entries listed at Photography News, visit http://www.photography-news.com/2009/12/photography-competitions.html