Eugene Smith Fund announces call for 2023 entries

The W. Eugene Smith Fund announced it is now accepting applications for its 44^th annual Grant in Humanistic Photography with a top prize of $30,000. An additional $10,000 grant will be awarded as a Fellowship, and one Finalist will be deemed worthy of special recognition and presented with a $5,000 grant. The Smith Fund is also accepting applications for its 6^th annual Eugene Smith Student Grant, which will honor the top student entry with a $3,000 grant. The student grant is open to all collegiate-level students currently enrolled in full-time or part-time programs. Since the Fund’s inception in 1979, it has awarded over $1.2 million to photographers whose past work and proposed projects follow the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s career as a photographic essayist. The deadline for submitting applications for all grants is Oct. 15, 2023.

Thanks to the support from longtime donors including the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, the Smith Fund was able to continue financing documentary photographers and their projects through the Covid pandemic.

None of the grants presented by the Smith Fund are endowed and rely entirely on corporate contributions, foundation grants, and individual donations to fund its grants and fellowships. This year, funding was drastically reduced due to the global economic downturn, leaving the Board of Trustees with a difficult decision for this year’s grant cycle. The annual Howard Chapnick Grant, which is presented to an individual or entity for their support of photojournalists, will not be presented this year. This will allow the Smith Fund to support its core Smith Grant and Fellowships in the short term while raising additional funding to re-establish the Chapnick Grant and build its reserves for future grants.

“I’m proud of the decisions and adjustments the Smith Fund Board of Trustees made this year to ensure we can continue to support documentary photographers and their important projects,” said Scott Thode, president of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund. “And we are all grateful for the continued support we’ve received from our donors, especially the Leonian Foundation, which allowed us to provide ongoing funding for important documentary projects around the world. However, the economic downturn did impact our fundraising efforts and we made the difficult decision to not offer the Howard Chapnick grant this year. Our hope and expectations are that this will be temporary.”

The Smith Fund will continue its partnership with several international photo organizations, encouraging documentary photographers from a variety of demographic and socio-economic backgrounds to submit their work to the annual Smith Fund grants. Organizations currently partnering with the W. Eugene Smith Fund include African Photojournalism Database, African Women in Photography, Authority Collective, Black Women Photographers, Diversify Photo, Everyday Projects, Foto Féminas, Indigenous Photograph, Magnum Foundation, 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. As part of its support of the Smith Fund, the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation will underwrite the cost of allowing these organizations to waive entry fees for the Smith Grant ($50), and Smith Student Grant ($10). Entrants should visit entry rules to determine if they qualify to have their entry fee waived.

The W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography is presented annually to a photographer whose past work and proposed project, as judged by a panel of experts, follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s dedicated compassion and humanistic approach to his subjects throughout his career as a photographic essayist. Past recipients have included Maxim Dondyuk (2022), Nicolò Filippo Rosso (2021), Sabiha Çimen (2020), Mark Peterson (2018), Krisanne Johnson (2011), Stanley Greene (2004), Graciela Iturbide (1987), Donna Ferrato (1985), and Eugene Richards (1981). For a complete list of past Smith Grant recipients, visit SmithFund.org.

The Smith Fund Student Grant, now in its 6^th year, was created to encourage students to utilize the photographic medium as a form of humanistic observation and social activism. The $3,000 grant provides a special category for all collegiate-level students (photo and non-photo majors) to submit their documentary photography and share their stories.

The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, Inc. is a non-profit corporation qualified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is supported by generous contributions from The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Earth Vision Institute, and the John and Anne Duffy Foundation. Additional support is provided by the International Center of Photography, and Synergy Communications.