For 30 years, The Alexia grants have supported student and professional visual communicators who produce projects that inspire change by addressing socially significant topics.
Grants are awarded to applicants who can produce significant projects that share in The Alexia’s mission and who demonstrate the ability to accomplish their projects.
Your submission must include a synopsis of your project, a proposal, your bio, a résumé/CV and a body of work. Stories may be in progress or planned. The submission fee is $50 for professionals; student submissions are free. Entries are judged as much on the strength of the proposal as on the applicant’s visual skills. What storytellers address and what they say about life on the planet is more important than the approach chosen to address that topic. Only one application per person will be accepted each year.
All applicants will be considered for the traditional Alexia grants. In addition, during the application upload process, you will have the ability to indicate if your application should also be considered for any of the new grants.
All applicant work will be considered for inclusion in international exhibitions curated throughout the year.
Deadline extended! Submit to The Alexia grants until Monday, Feb. 19, 11:59 p.m. EST. Live judging is set for March 29-30.
Professional grants enable established photographers and filmmakers to produce substantial bodies of work that align with The Alexia’s mission. The Alexia also encourages a diversity of creators, issues and approaches, and values work that elevates understanding and inspires meaningful change.
This year, The Alexia is offering new grants as well as its traditional grants.
The Alexia Grant (professional): $20,000 and a Sony camera/lens. The runner-up will receive $500.
NEW: The Alexia Mental Health Grant sponsored by The Albany Foundation: $17,000. For this grant, we will be looking for strong projects that provide meaningful insight into a mental health issue.
NEW: The Alexia Environmental Change Grant sponsored by James Balog / Earth Vision Institute: $15,000. We are looking for a still photographer whose innovative image-making and ideas deepen human understanding of environmental change in the Anthropocene. Special consideration will be given to work with strong potential for public outreach.
NEW: The Alexia Conservation Grant sponsored by The fStop Foundation: $5,000. For this grant, we will be looking for strong projects that focus on positive aspects of conservation work in relation to human-wildlife conflict — how we can thrive living alongside wildlife that share our landscape.
The professional grant application has a $50 fee.
These grants enable current college student photographers and filmmakers to produce bodies of work that align with The Alexia’s mission.
We also encourage a diversity of creators, issues and approaches, and value work that elevates understanding and inspires meaningful change.
Student applicants are encouraged to consider proposing projects located close to where they live because a successful body of work is more likely with easy and repeated access. Most student grant recipients are already working on their projects when they apply.
The Alexia Grant (student): $1,000, a Sony camera/lens, the tuition and fees to audit three courses during a semester at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York, and they will be considered for a paid position as research assistant to The Alexia chair. The runner-up for this award will receive $500.
NEW: The Alexia Conservation Grant sponsored by The fStop Foundation: $1,000. For this grant, we will be looking for strong projects that focus on positive aspects of conservation work in relation to human-wildlife conflict — how we can thrive living alongside wildlife that share our landscape. The fStop Foundation also is willing to provide guidance during production and publication.
The student grant application is free.
Student and Emerging Photographer grant
The Alexia is pleased to announce THE ALEXIA EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHER GRANT SPONSORED BY THE VII FOUNDATION.
The recipient of this grant will be selected from applicants to our student grants as well as professional applicants who have five years of experience or less. Given this, we are extending the deadline for all of our grants until 11:59 p.m. Feb. 19. The VII Foundation believes truthful visual journalism is an essential tool for citizens and decision-makers as they confront humanity’s challenges and seek sustainable solutions. In response, the foundation empowers new voices, fosters critical debates and creates stories that advocate change.
GRANT DETAILS: Tuition to Level 3 of The Program for Narrative and Documentary Photography in Arles, France, plus accommodation and a per diem.
CURRICULUM: Level 3 of the Program for Narrative and Documentary Photography offers an immersive, interdisciplinary experience at the Alexandra Boulat Campus in Arles, France. This intensive month-long program includes training in observation, interview techniques, public speaking, writing, constructing complex narratives, editing, improving technical skills and engaging in discourse and debate.
Level 3 classes are conducted in English and focus on teaching through practice and mentoring; they also include more theoretical concepts, integrating multi-disciplinary academic reading and research, writing, journaling, art disciplines, and workshops. After completing the course, students are skilled professionals ready to report on vital issues in their communities and understand their role in the context of contemporary journalism.
Tutors for past editions of Level 3 include Monica Allende, Philip Blenkinsop, Dr. David Campbell, Jacqueline Farmer, Ziyah Gafic, Gary Knight, Ilvy Njiokiktjien Fiona Turner and Yonola Viguerie.
The VII Foundation’s educational programs are run by VII Academy, which provides tuition-free courses in visual journalism to practitioners in the Majority World and underrepresented communities in G20 countries.
JURORS: The VII Foundation
The open judging weekend March 29–30 in Syracuse, New York, is being sponsored by SONY.
All images submitted also will be considered for inclusion in national and international Alexia exhibitions and publications curated throughout the year. Photographers with selected images would be contacted for approval.