The W. Eugene Smith Grant (Due Oct. 5)
The W. Eugene Smith Grant
Deadline: October 5th, 2025
The W. Eugene Smith Grant is designed to encourage and support visual storytellers whose photographic work renews the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s dedicated compassion as evidenced during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist. Special consideration will be given to work that promotes social change, that embraces new technologies and image distribution, and that seeks to integrate the tradition of photography and social change with contemporary practice. The judges will be looking for a photographer and project that seem most likely to use exemplary and compelling photojournalism and documentary photography (possibly supplemented by or incorporating multi-media) to address an issue of import and impact related to the human condition: social change, humanitarian concern, armed conflict, or other topics of interpersonal, psychological, cultural, social, environmental, scientific, medical and/or political significance, ideally expressing an underlying acknowledgement of our common humanity.
Requirements
A biography up to 1500 characters (spaces included). A CV, up to 2000 characters (spaces included), is optional and can instead be submitted as a PDF of unlimited length.
The project description is a concise synopsis or summary of the project. This outline should be brief but comprehensive. Ideally, the project will be journalistically realizable, visually translatable, and humanistically driven. The description should not exceed 2000 characters (spaces included).
The project proposal should go into greater detail, describing the practical aspects of the applicant's plan. It should explain how the applicant will use the Smith Grant funds to launch or complete the project. The proposal should not exceed 3000 characters (spaces included).
IMAGES: Applicants can submit up to 40 images total. These should consist of representative images from the project being proposed to the W. Eugene Smith Fund. Or, if a new project, the applicant can include in their submission past work clearly marked as such, that represents the candidate’s vision and their ability to execute the project being proposed to the fund. No AI generated imagery is allowed.
You must be 18 years of age or older to apply for this grant.
Application Fee
$50 USD.
Fee Waiver: Through partnerships with the African Photojournalism Database, African Women in Photography, the Authority Collective, Black Women Photographers, Diversify Photo, the Everyday Projects, Foto Féminas, Indigenous Photograph, the Magnum Foundation, and Women Photograph, Center for Photography Ethiopia, Matca, Market Photo Workshop, VII Foundation, UCAB PhotoContact Project, Nuku Studio, Pathshala South Asian Media Institute and Maleza, the Smith Fund will be making a select number of application fee waivers available to photographers seeking to apply to the Eugene Smith Grant, and the Eugene Smith Student Grant. Photographers who cannot afford the submission fee should request a fee waiver from one of the following organizations before September 23, 2025.