The Ian Parry Scholarship 2017 opens for entries

The Ian Parry Scholarship 2017 is now open for entries. Returning for its 27th year, the international competition seeks to shine a light on two documentary or visual photojournalism students undertaking an BA, MA or MFA, and two freelance photographers under the age of 24. In both categories, the Scholarship will support their futures by giving them a cash prize, equipment, and exposure.

The award has an impressive alumni, is free to enter and open to all full-time students, including recent graduates. Following on from last year’s success, the Scholarship will again be divided into two categories: The Ian Parry Award for Achievement and The Ian Parry Award for Potential. To enter, photographers must submit a 12-image portfolio with captions and a story proposal that they would like to shoot, including research and a budget.

The recipients will each walk away with $3,500 to help them complete their chosen project and camera equipment courtesy of Canon. The Incite Project will also add the winners’ portfolio to its prestigious collection, with the invitation of a private tour, the images will be exhibited in London as part of a significant gallery exhibition and will appear in The Sunday Times Magazine.

The winner of the Award for Potential will also receive a 12-month membership into the organisation’s Mentorship Programme, with this year’s mentor revealed as highly respected British documentary photographer, and previous Ian Parry Scholarship recipient, Simon Roberts. The winner of the Award for Achievement will automatically join the shortlist for the World Press Photo’s Joop Swart Masterclass in Amsterdam.

The Scholarship was created in celebration of the life and work of Ian Parry, a 24-year-old photojournalist who was killed while on assignment for The Sunday Times. Ian had been photographing the downfall of the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu during the Romanian revolution in 1989, when the plane taking him home was shot down shortly after take-off. Dedicated to his memory, the award was created by his friends, family and the newspaper’s then Picture Editor Aidan Sullivan, and has been recognising emerging talent in this genre ever since.

The awards are judged by a panel of international figures, including patron Sir Don McCullin, who said: “He [Ian Parry] was most certainly on the threshold of a great career in photojournalism. Not only does this Scholarship help to keep Ian’s name alive, but it offers struggling young photographers the opportunity to pursue the kind of stories that Ian was committed to. Over the 27 years that the Scholarship has been in operation, the selected photographers have not only benefited directly from the award, but have become part of a remarkable family.”

In the past, previous winners have directed the spotlight on issues that may have gone unnoticed by the mainstream media. Last year’s winner of the Award for Achievement, American photojournalist Andrew Renneisen, exposed the practice of “witch” lynching in Kenya. Igor Elukov, a Russian photography student who won the Award for Potential, focussed on the problem of poaching in the sub-polar north.

Think you’ve got what it takes to win? Enter at www.ianparry.org/scholarship before the 1 September deadline.