NPPA Short Grants
- Two Weeks
- $3,000
- Five Great Stories Just Waiting to be Told
Budgets for newsrooms are shrinking and one of the greatest victims is the community photo story. Photographers don’t have the time or the funding that they used to have to work on compelling stories in their community.
The National Press Photographers Association is bringing back the community photo story through the NPPA Short Grants, with five awards of $3,000 each. The grant is designed for funding projects small enough in scale that the bulk of the work can be accomplished in two weeks or less.
photo by Alicia Wagner Calzada, San Antonio TX, 2004
Entry is now closed as of October 1st. Judging will begin shortly.
Q&A
- Q:
- When will applications be accepted?
- A:
- The entry period will begin on August 1, and will end on September 30, 2011.
- Q:
- How do I apply?
- A:
- All entries will be submitted through our online application system. Among the information you will be asked to provide: your name and contact information, your employer and employment status (if you are a staffer); whether you will use furlough or vacation to schedule the project; a 600 word description of the grant proposal; a brief description of any expected expenses/ budget; photographs that either illustrate the idea or show a past project; and the name and contact information for two references.
- Q:
- When will the grants be awarded?
- A:
- A committee of judges will review entries in October, and the grants will be awarded in November.
- Q:
- My story idea description takes more than 600 words.
- A:
- Sorry. We need to know that you are a good communicator and can tell a compelling story succinctly. The description should not be the entire story- just enough to get us familiar with your plans and your idea.
- Q:
- Who is the sponsor of this grant?
- A:
- You are. This grant is made possible from the distribution of international reprographic rights funds, which must be spent to benefit photographers.
- Q:
- What do you want to see in the application?
- A:
- The primary criteria in judging are 1) your ability to tell a great visual story, and 2) a great idea for a story that you haven’t told yet.
- Q:
- What type of story are you looking for?
- A:
- We're looking for community photo stories, based in the US.
- Q:
- Do you have to be an NPPA member to qualify?
- A:
- No. This grant is funded by international reprographic rights funds and while we encourage everyone to join NPPA, the program is open to all as a term of the funding. We won’t even know if you are a member or not prior to judging.
- Q:
- Who is eligible to apply?
- A:
- According to the guidelines of the funding we are using, eligible applicants must reside in the United States and make their living primarily through still photography. You'll find more detailed information on the application.
- Q:
- Can students apply?
- A:
- This grant is only available to working professionals.
- Q:
- Who owns the copyright to the images taken with short grant funds?
- A:
- Ummm. You do, silly. We are the NPPA, not some ugly corporation trying to steal from you. We do require that you give us permission to publish images from your project in News Photographer and online to promote the grant program. We need to be accountable for our use of the grant money. If you have a publisher for the work, we will honor any first publication agreements that you have.
- Q:
- Will this be offered every year?
- A:
- We hope so. Because this is funded by a grant, which fluctuates, we have no way of knowing. We hope to see a great success this year and we will go from there.
Questions? Write to short_grants@nppa.org