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The 2018 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant

By Peggy Roalf   Tuesday October 16, 2018

New York’s premier fall photo event—the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund Grant awards ceremony—takes place on October 17th at the SVA Theatre. This hotly anticipated program, which draws entries from the best photojournalists worldwide, includes two firsts this year.

Finalists vying for the 39th annual Smith Grant and the 22nd annual Howard Chapnick Grant have been announced prior to the event. And 2018 marks the new “student” category. Finalists were selected from approximately 500 entries representing 53 countries; they were eligible for more than $50,000 in grants and fellowships, including the $35,000 Smith Grant. Since its inception in 1980, the Fund has awarded over one million dollars to photographers who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to documenting the human condition in the spirit of Smith’s concern and compassion.



© Jimmy Lee (China). "There are many local tours for tourists to watch the traditional Tibetan burial at Sertar. Sky burial is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a charnel ground to decompose and to be eaten by vulture."

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 concerned photography and dedicated compassion exhibited during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist.

Jodi Kantor, best-selling author of The Obamas and prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times, will present this year’s keynote at the ceremony tomorrow night. Along with Megan Twohey and their colleagues, Kantor broke the story of decades of sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Their work, which won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, helped ignite the #MeToo movement, shift attitudes, and spur new laws, policies, and standards of accountability around the globe.

“This year marks the largest number of finalists we’ve had since the Fund was established in 1980 and directly correlates to the impressive quality of entries we received this year,” explains Stephen Frailey, Smith Fund board member and Chair of this year’s adjudication committee. “Selecting this year’s grant and fellowship recipients was a difficult undertaking but those attending the annual awards ceremony on October 17 will see some of the best documentary photography produced around the world.”



© Hashem Shakeri (Tehran). Choutani village, Dashtyari region, Chabahar, Balouchestan.

Today’s DART features select entries by finalists in the new student category. 

The Smith Fund requires that each applicant state what being selected would mean to them. Jimmy Lee wrote, “It is easy to get lost and doubt while doing long-term project; being named a student finalist in the W. Eugene Smith Grant gives me a great encouragement to keep working on it.” Hashem Shakeri said, “It’s an honor for me to join W. Eugene Smith Memorial Grant family, which has inspired me from the very beginning of my professional career. After this, I’ll be more motivated to go on and try harder.” From Marwan Bassiouni: “I feel overwhelmed, excited and honored to have been selected to receive this prestigious award. The jury mentioned that it was because my work offers a new paradigm in documentary photography for social change, this especially touched me. Because it is the first time that I receive a sign of recognition for going my own way when making documentary photographs.”

Left: © Marwan Bassiouni, New Dutch Views #2.

Following is a list of finalists and the title of their submitted projects.

W. Eugene Smith Memorial Grant Finalists
Enayat Asadi: “Rising from the Ashes of War” (Iran)
Sarah Blesener: “New Americanism” (United States)
Monika Bulaj: “Broken Songlines || Three Manuscripts” (Poland)
Mary Calvert: “Defending the Forces: Reforming America’s Military Justice System” (U.S.)
Giancarlo Ceraudo: “Destino Final: The History of Dictatorship in Argentina” (Italy)
Antonio Gibotta: “Stuck in the Cold of Belgrade” (Italy)
Rafael Lerma: “In The Midst Of Violent Change: Covering The Philippine Drug War” (Philippines)
MarThe k Peterson: “The Past is Never Dead” (United States)
Stephanie Sinclair: “Child Marriage in the United States” (United States)

Howard Chapnick Grant
Peter Brook: “A History of Prison Photography Written by Prisoners” (United States)
Savannah Dodd: “The Photography Ethics Centre” (Northern Ireland)
Alicia Hansen: “NYC Salt’s project Pathways to College and Career” (United States)
Michael Kamber: “The Bronx Documentary Center” (United States)
Austin Merrill: “Everyday Bedford Academy” (United States)
Ye Ming: “A Database of Chinese Visual Storytellers” (China)

W. Eugene Smith Student Grant Finalists
Marwan Bassiouni: “New Dutch Views” (Switzerland)
Jordan Gale: “It is What it is” (United States)
Jimmy Lee: “The Road to Redemption” (Hong Kong)
Arne Piepke: “For Faith, Custom, and Home” (Germany)
Hashem Shakeri: “An Elegy for the Death of Hamun” (Iran)

The event, which runs from 7 to 9pm, with doors opening at 6:15pm, is free and open to the public but RSVP is required.

The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund grant ceremony takes place at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 42nd Street, NY, NY RSVP Info

 

 


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