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NOPA Grants for Photographers

Every year, we offer 2-5 grants to outstanding artists with the Michael P. Smith Fund, Clarence John Laughlin Award, and PhotoNOLA Annual Grant. Special thanks to our sponsors for their continued support.

Recent Grant News

All updates pertaining to upcoming or ongoing applications and results will appear on this page.

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  • CLJ 2018 Grantee

    CLJ 2018 Grantee

    The Laid Table is a very personal meditation on beauty, fecundity, fragility and the inevitable march of time. Each image is staged as it appears in the image, no post production manipulation is used.

  • MPS 2020 Grantee

    MPS 2020 Grantee

    Chasing Light is an ongoing (circa 2011) collaborative photography project between twin siblings Bianca and riel Sturchio. Chasing Light embodies the belief that representation, visibility, autonomy, and truth-telling can promote personal empowerment, and open up access to spaces that foster meaningful dialogue and community.

  • The Clarence John Laughlin Award 2020

    ELIGIBILITY Both emerging and established photographers residing in the U.S. may apply. The New Orleans Photo Alliance invites photographers working in all mediums, styles, and schools of thought to apply. Still images made from all photographic processes, both traditional and digital will be considered. There are no restrictions on subject matter or genres. Traditional, contemporary,…

  • 2018 Finalists: Clarence John Laughlin Award

    [one_half][/one_half] The Clarence John Laughlin Award was created by the New Orleans Photo Alliance to support the work of photographers who use the medium as a means of creative expression. It honors the life and work of Clarence John Laughlin (1905-1985), a New Orleans photographer best known for his surrealist images of the American South.…

  • MPS Fund Testimonial: Amber Shields

      I was thrilled to hear my photography series, Visions of Johanne – The Aging Female Body, a 15-year exploration of a woman’s life in her 70s and 80s, was selected by Olivier C. Laurent, former Editor of LightBox, TIME’s photography website, as a winner of the New Orleans Photo Alliance’s 2017 Michael P. Smith Fund for Documentary Photography.…