Getty Images announces contest for photojournalism grants

Getty Images has announced that submissions for its 2013 Grants for Editorial Photography are now being accepted.

Beside the 20-25 images, applications will require a 500 word description of the project proposal, and a short biography, due by May 1, 2013.

Kosuke Okahara, one of the winners of 2012’s grant, documented the lives of the people of Fukushima for over a year after the nuclear disaster.

Change of plans for funding

This year, five photojournalists will be selected to receive grants of $10,000, which will be used for pursuing significant journalistic projects.

In previous editions, Getty Images usually awarded four photojournalism grants of $20,000.

Considering that the majority of past projects have been accomplished with smaller sums, the judges and program leaders have decided to adjust the funding this year, in order to accommodate more grants.

In addition to the five photojournalists, Getty will be rewarding four more photographers or agencies, picked out of a creative grants program. Each one will receive $10,000, for creating conceptual images that can be used by non-profit organizations.

Getty will also continue supporting the Chris Hondros Fund with $20,000, aiming to encourage photographers who demonstrate ethics and commitment, akin to the late war photographer’s.

Expanding the program’s reach even further, Getty Images Portrait Prize will be rewarding the talents of an emerging photographer with a $10,000 grant, for work in portrait photography.

The program accepts both professional as well as emerging photographers

The rest of the rules remain unmodified from previous editions.

Professional photojournalists must be engaged in full-time jobs, deriving the majority of their income from documenting issues and events. Emerging photographers must be enrolled in a full time photojournalism school or program, or be under the age of 25.

Copyrights for the submitted photos will belong to the photographers. Likewise, grant winners will own images created inside the program.

Judging will be carried out by a panel of four acclaimed professionals

The selection of participants will be judged by a committee of four notable professionals in the field of photography: Jean-Francois Leroy, Director at Visa Pour L’Image International Photojournalistic Festival, Jon Jones, Director of Photography at The Sunday Times Magazine, Olivier Laurent, Acting Deputy Editor for The British Journal of Photography, and Tiziana Faraoni, Photo Editor for l’Espresso Magazine.

The judges will choose the applicants who prove the utmost skill in the execution of compelling visual narratives, according to their portfolio. Their second consideration will be in regard to each proposed project’s merit and potential.

The winners will be announced in September 2013 at the Visa Pour L’Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan, France.

Photos resulting from the projects will be exhibited on Getty Images’s website, in the Grants for Editorial Photography section, where past portfolios are also archived.