Callout for submissions: 12th edition of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award

12 July 2021

Now in its 12 edition, the Carmignac Photojournalism Award has announced its annual callout for submissions.

Supported by the Fondation Carmignac, the Award was created back in 2009 by Édouard Carmignanc to support photographers working in the field as photojournalists.

Directed by Emric Glayse, the Award funds investigative photo reporting of human rights and environmental abuses.

© Arlette Bashizi for Fondation Carmignac
Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, April 27-28, 2020. With schools closed during Congo’s period of confinement, and the city implementing regular power cuts, my 13-year-old sister Marie studies at home by the light of a mobile phone. — © Arlette Bashizi for Fondation Carmignac Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, April 27-28, 2020. With schools closed during Congo’s period of confinement, and the city implementing regular power cuts, my 13-year-old sister Marie studies at home by the light of a mobile phone.

Each year, the Award sees a panel of judges select one laureate from a pool of submissions and award them a grant of €50,000 towards their photojournalistic endeavours.

The Award’s theme for this year is Venezuela, focusing especially on the hardships faced at the individual, social and environmental levels.

© Raissa Rwizibuka Karama for Fondation Carmignac
Bukavu, DRC, May 2020. Women do each other's hair in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu during Coronavirus confinement. — © Raissa Rwizibuka Karama for Fondation Carmignac Bukavu, DRC, May 2020. Women do each other's hair in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu during Coronavirus confinement.

With a number of factors contributing to social unrest, as well as political and economic instability, the Carmignac Photojournalism Award will provide support for a photojournalistic project that documents the crises that Venezuela is facing.

Last year’s theme was focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the previous edition of the Award was dedicated to portrayals of life in the Amazon in Brazil.

© Raissa Karama Rwizibuka for Fondation Carmignac
Bukavu, DRC, May 2020. Anglebert Maurice Kakuja, 29, a Sapeur, or Congolese dandy, shows off his fashion sense while wearing a homemade mask in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu this week. Sapeurs take their name from the acronym for their group: SAPE, meaning Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, or “elegant persons who create ambience”. — © Raissa Karama Rwizibuka for Fondation Carmignac Bukavu, DRC, May 2020. Anglebert Maurice Kakuja, 29, a Sapeur, or Congolese dandy, shows off his fashion sense while wearing a homemade mask in the eastern Congolese city of Bukavu this week. Sapeurs take their name from the acronym for their group: SAPE, meaning Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, or “elegant persons who create ambience”.

For the DRC edition of the Award, the laureate was Finbarr O’Reilly. Due to the pandemic, O’Reilly was unable to travel to the DRC for most of the year and so he collaborated with Congolese photographers to put together a collective reportage of life in the DRC.

© Tommaso Protti for Fondation Carmignac
Pau d’Arco, Pará, 2019. A landless peasant erects a sign claiming occupation of the Santa Lúcia farm in Pau d’Arco. In May 2017, the farm was the site of a bloody massacre in which ten land rights activists were killed by police. In Brazil’s Amazon States, it is common for landowners to contract off-duty police officers to perform extrajudicial killings and land evictions. Today, the property is occupied by 197 families from the Liga dos Camponeses Pobres (Poor Peasants League, or LCP). — © Tommaso Protti for Fondation Carmignac Pau d’Arco, Pará, 2019. A landless peasant erects a sign claiming occupation of the Santa Lúcia farm in Pau d’Arco. In May 2017, the farm was the site of a bloody massacre in which ten land rights activists were killed by police. In Brazil’s Amazon States, it is common for landowners to contract off-duty police officers to perform extrajudicial killings and land evictions. Today, the property is occupied by 197 families from the Liga dos Camponeses Pobres (Poor Peasants League, or LCP).

The array of images captured as part of O’Reilly’s initiative can be viewed on the website dedicated to their photojournalism project called Congo in Conversation.

As for the Amazon-themed edition of the Award, the laureate was Tommaso Protti, whose portfolio of images shine a light on the issues the region has been facing, including social and humanitarian crises, as well as deforestation.

© Tommaso Protti for Fondation Carmignac
Canaã dos Carajás, Pará, 2019. A landless peasant leader on the Grotão de Mutum landless peasant camp near Canaã dos Carajás. Brazil’s Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Worker’s Movement) fights for agrarian reform across Brazil, where 40% of farmers operate less than 1.2% of farmable lands. — © Tommaso Protti for Fondation Carmignac Canaã dos Carajás, Pará, 2019. A landless peasant leader on the Grotão de Mutum landless peasant camp near Canaã dos Carajás. Brazil’s Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (Landless Worker’s Movement) fights for agrarian reform across Brazil, where 40% of farmers operate less than 1.2% of farmable lands.

The selection process is divided into two stages, firstly a pre-jury will choose 12-15 proposals from the all submitted applications and they will pass this selection on to the final judging panel.

Then the final judging panel will select a winning project, and hence select the winning laureate.

This year’s final judging panel is comprised of: Quentin Bajac, director at Jeu de Paume; Whitney Johnson, director of visuals and immersive experiences at National Geographic; Finbarr O’Reilly, laureate of the 11th edition of the CPA; Sandra Stevenson, associate director of photography at CNN; and Marcos Gómez, director of Amnesty International Venezuela.

Submissions are completely free of charge and the final deadline is 11:59pm GMT on October 18, 2021.

To find out more about how to apply, you can visit the website here.