Nikon has just announced that for the fourth year in a row it will sponsor the Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage Award. The competition is open internationally and provides female photographers with a prestigious platform to celebrate their work while highlighting social, environmental, economic and cultural issues different communities face.
Marily Stafford launched the award in 2017 as a way of celebrating women in photojournalism. Each year a prize of £2,000 (around US$2,600) is awarded to the winner who will have the opportunity to complete a documentary photo essay addressing an issue close to their heart. The selected winner will also receive support to pursue a career in photojournalism through Nikon’s sponsorship.
• Read more: CEWE Photo Awards celebrate female photographers for International Women's Day
Stafford’s unusual career started in 1948 when she found herself on her way to New Jersey, USA to photograph Albert Einstein. Since then she has traveled to India, Paris, Tunisia and Bangladesh shooting anything from fashion to the effect of war to the swinging sixties. Her work continues to be exhibited all over the world, inspiring a new generation of photographers to pursue the art form.
This year, Stafford has released a book and is holding an exhibition at Brighton Museum called A Life in Photography. When asked about her work and the award, the 96-year-old photographer said, “I look back at my life’s work and what stands out for me most ins the humanitarian work, whether I was covering children living in slum housing in 1950s Paris, the refugee crisis in the Algerian War of Independence in 1958 or the aftermath of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, my heart lay with the victims of tragedy and neglect."
• Marliyn Stafford interview: photographing Einstein, fashion & refugees
She continued, “I fully understand how women need additional support to make reportage sustain itself, which is why I founded this award with FotoDocument and we are honored to be sponsored by Nikon”
The competition is free to enter and open to photographers with any level of experience. Entrants are required to submit one documentary photo essay which showcases positive solutions to an important issue may it be locally or globally. Submissions will be judged by a panel of experienced photojournalists and industry experts. Entries close on 20 May and winners will be announced just over a month later on 28 June 2022.
To find out more information including terms and conditions or to view the work of previous winners, head to the FotoDocument website.
Read more:
Best film cameras
Best camera for portraits
Best lens for portraits
