The international IAFOR Documentary Photography Award aims to promote and assist in the professional development of emerging documentary photographers and photojournalists.

The award is supported by the International Academic Forum (IAFOR) and builds off of the strength of the IAFOR Documentary Film Award. Documentary has a rich history of exposing truths, telling stories, raising awareness and creating discussion.

This year's competition theme is “Fearful Futures”.

As humans, we are not conditioned by fear alone, but instead by a remarkable ingenuity, and a capacity for hope, self-reflection, activism and action. This agency to improve our own lives, and those of others, is the theme of this year’s IAFOR Documentary Photography Award, inviting us to consider the ways in which we contextualise and process the past, reimagining ourselves, our relationships, and our environments; driving positive change and reclaiming the future as a time we look towards with hope, and even optimism.

Each applicant may submit 10 to 20 images related to the award theme, either in the form of a photo-essay or as a collection of single images. Images should be saved at 3000 pixels on the longest edge.

The majority of images should have been made during 2017-2018. However, at the discretion of the judges, images made earlier than 2017 will be allowed if they form part of a photo-essay continued during 2017-2018.

There is no entry fee.

Eligibility

Open worldwide to young photographers under 31 years old OR enrolled in part-time or full time education on September 12, 2018.

Prize

The first place winner will receive a cash prize of 1,000 GBP (approx. 1,280 USD), a grant of up to 500 USD towards airfare and accommodation, a scholarship to cover full conference registration fees for the IAFOR conference at which their work will be showcased, and a mentorship sessions from an experienced professional.

Winners will be announced during IAFOR’s MediAsia conference in Tokyo, Japan.