The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation For Documentary Photography & Film
Documentary Still Photography/Reportage $5000 Award/Grant
Grant Submission Rules & Guidelines
I. DEFINITION Similar to the standards set forth in our new ?Short-Short Documentary Film? Award/Grant, our commitment to documentary photoreportage remains stronger than ever. This grant was created to encourage the betterment of humanity through the presentation of editorially-based imagery representing humanistic themes including human unrest, famine, disease, national and international politics, war, uprisings, injustice and triumph. As well, this grant was set up to lend credence to the photographers themselves who give so much of their time, energy, enthusiasm, money, and, at times, their lives to create images that bear witness and are sometimes shockingly brutal. Purpose of the grant is to support completion of proposed projects, either completely new or in progress. This category is for non-fiction humanistic photographic work only. Images of objects, fashion, fauna or flora will not be considered.

Proposals and work submitted for this grant must be of human interest, resonating globally due in no small part to its potential impact on humanity.
The best submissions will cover cultural, artistic, historical, economic, scientific, or other subjects inherent to human activity and survival. All documentary images must be produced in actual occurrence and may NOT employ partial reenactment. The emphasis must always remain on fact, not fiction. Both professional and non-professional photographers committed to photo reportage and documentary photography are eligible to apply.
We are especially interested in, but not restrictive to, underrepresented photographers ? including women and photographers from diverse developing countries. It is these photographers whose work historically has not received the type of attention or accolade it deserves. Still, we encourage all photographers from all walks of life and socio-economic backgrounds to submit their work pertaining to humanistic reportage.
All entries, particularly the Top 24, will be strenuously judged. The quality of your proposal, your image section, image composition, image presentation and sequencing, the quality and clarity if your writing, the passion and compassion detailed in your proposal and its impact not only on the singularity of some people?s lives, but on humanity or entire swatches of humanity as a whole will be very carefully looked at. We recommend that you pay close attention to all of these details if you should hope to make the final selection to ultimately receive our award/grant.
During the final round the actual need of each photographer selected will be assessed. The timeliness of your project, recent and past exposure of your work or the submitted body of work, the number of times you have entered other competitions especially with the body of your you have shown to us, and the number of times you have been awarded will also be taken into consideration. This does not mean that one part of your entry will win out over another, it simply means that given that the ?Top 12? portfolios are historically tremendously strong and to differentiate one from the other ultimately arriving at a winner, it will come down to the specific details in your proposal and your ability to clearly and succinctly state your point.
Consider only submitting your best work and consider sending to us work which is new and fresh even if it comes from a body of work already shown elsewhere. It is in your best interest that judges don?t feel that they have seen this portfolio before.
II. PAST WINNERS To date, winning submissions can be characterized as having
accomplished one of the following in the eyes of our judges:
A. The submitted work and proposal showed significant impact of specific subject matter on an entire swath of humanity in scales which far well beyond the , to situations which affect the general whole;
B. The story was grand enough in scale that while threatening entire regions of the planet in potentially environmentally catastrophic ways, it ultimately affects the entirety of the planet especially those most vulnerable among us.
III.THE ?DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY? PROJECT
A. Eligibility – Entrants and submissions to our ?Documentary Photography? (photo reportage ? still photography) Award/Grant must adhere to following for eligibility:
1. You must be 18 years of age at the time of submission.
2. Relatives and business associates of the trustees, officers or employees of the Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film are not eligible to apply.
3. Per regulatory considerations pertaining to this foundation and
non-profit filings, photographic images and proposed projects must be in the photojournalistic tradition of Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, Foundation Founder & President. They must be real non-fictional works based on such pressing social issues as health, poverty, oppression, war, famine, religious/political persecution, and similar topics.
4. All entries must be submitted under your real name(s), and not aliases, pen names or under the name of a supporting or representing organization.
5. All participants (including non-U.S. entrants) must be able to submit their entry over the Internet via electronic email.
6. All entries must be submitted by the individual(s) most involved in the key creative aspects of the photographic process. There will only be one award prize regardless the number of individuals involved in your proposal.
7. All submissions must be proposals for new and continuing projects with the purpose of completion. Already completed projects are not eligible.
8. Each entrant must submit the required five documents as specified and detailed under Submissions-Round One.
9. Group entrants are permitted. Only one submission set of documents per group will be accepted.
10.Entrants selected as the Top 24 must submit the required images as specified and detailed under Submissions-Round Two.
11.Submitted images must have been completed no earlier than 1.5 years (18 months) prior to the initial date for the call for entries of that calendar year.
12.Images submitted do not necessarily have to be related to your proposed project but they must relate to the topic reportage and should reflect your best work in documentary photography.
13.Both new never before exhibited projects and already exhibited projects are eligible provided all work adheres to point III-A-10 above. Prior exhibited projects include print, broadcast, videography, Internet distribution, or museum or gallery exhibition.
14.The eligibility period for entries to our Documentary Photography Award/Grant begins on November 15 of every year, and ends on March 31, 2013 of the following calendar year. All requested entry materials must be completed and submitted to us no later than midnight, New York (USA) time, March 31, 2013. Projects submitted after that time will not be considered.
B. Submission Requirements – The submission process extends over three rounds of judging. All submissions in the this grant category must include and adhere to the following:
1. Round One ? You must e-mail to us at submissions@mrofoundation.org the five documents detailed below. No entries will be accepted in the form of a link to external websites including those of museums, agencies, exhibition spaces or third-party entities such as curators or collectors. Links to your own website may only be included as part of your personal contact information, and not in lieu of any of the following required documents:
(1) 15-image Portfolio (in a single PDF formatted file) from a recently completed or partially completed, cohesive documentary photographic project. Portfolio requirements include:
? Each portfolio must be exactly 15 photographic images.
? All images must have been completed no earlier than 1.5 years (18 months) prior to the initial date of the call for entries of that calendar year.
? Both black&white and color images will be accepted, including a combination of black&white and color.
? No signature, stamp or any other identifying mark is to be imbedded anywhere on your images, with the exception of metadata information.
? Advertisements of any sort will not be permitted as part of your submission either imbedded or implied.
? The portfolio images must be presented in a single PDF file.
? Your portfolio PDF file must not exceed 10 megabytes.
? Without exception, you must own or hold all necessary rights (copyrights, etc.) to your images.
(2) 1-page Photographic R?sum? (CV) Your official CV/R?sum? in English including:
? Full real name
? Actual address
? Country of residence/origin
? Telephone number
? Email address
? Other pertinent information required for contacting you
? Short personal biography
(3) Headshot
(4) Submissions for Grant Proposal ? 1500 word count maximum. This section is meant as an opportunity for you to help us get to know you, to understand your project proposal and your work better. Contained within your ?Submission for
Grant Proposal,? you must:
? include a description of the project and social issue to be funded
? a schedule and completion date for the proposed project. (Please note that funded projects must be completed within the calendar year following receipt of Award/Grant. If you cannot complete your work within the calendar year, you must let us
know immediately.)
? tell us who you are and the inspiration behind your work
? tell us what photo reportage as a genre and as a career means to you as a photographer and as a person
? give a brief statement about your photographic process (equipment, image processing and the like).
(5) Proposed Budget for your documentary project. Your budget should include estimated travel costs, materials and the like.
Only new and continuing projects with the purpose of completion are eligible to apply.
2. Round Two (Top-24) ? Judges will carefully select the Top-24 portfolio proposals from among all entries received. Only portfolios that project the highest excellence in photo-reportage and photojournalism will continue on.
The top 24 entries will be required to re-submit individual digital files of their Round One 15-image-portfolio. Images shoul be submitted to submissions@mrofoundation.org via electronic email using any of various file-sharing services including ?YouSendIt,? ?DropBox,? digitally compressed files folder and the like with the following requirements:
? Each image must be in JPEG format.
? Each image must not exceed 2 megabytes in size.
? Each image must include a title and a caption. All titles and captions must be provided in the English-language.
? No signature, stamp or any other identifying mark is to be imbedded anywhere on your images, with the exception of metadata information.
By submitting your higher-res images for Round Two judging you agree that one or some of your images will be showcased online on our ?Hall of Excellence? entry page as exemplary reportage photography. This is a tremendous opportunity for your work to
shine and be recognized as being among the best entries received. There is no monetary compensation for the presentation of your work on our ?Hall of Excellence.? It is an honor and a privilege for us to be able to show the world the work you do from among the hundreds of worthy/talented entries we receive each year.
3. Round Three (Top 12) In this round, 12 entries will be identified from the Top 24 selected Round Two. The 2013 Award/Grant recipient will be selected from these 12 and announced to a world audience in Arles, France during Les Rencontres d?Arles
de la Photographie in summer 2013.
There are no additional submission requirements for this round. All of the ?Top 12? shortlisted portfolios entering this round will be exhibited at our new sister space Galerie Huit (8) located in the heart of Arles during the Rencontres d?Arles photography
festival as part of the 2013 showcase of reportage photography and will be featured in a published catalogue.
C. Acknowledgement of Submission and Notification of Selection
1. We endeavor to acknowledge receipt of your submission. However, it will be your responsibility to insure that your entry has been received. If you do not receive our confirmation within 72 hours of submission, please contact us at
contactus@mrofoundation.org requesting the status of your submission. We are not responsible for submissions sent but not received. Please note our March 31, 2013 deadline will not be extended, so we recommend submitting your work a few days early.
2. Entrants selected in Round 2 and Round 3 be notified individually. Please note that we will NOT initially be publishing the names of Round Two selected entries online. All other entries not selected will be collectively informed of the status of their entries.
D. Voting
1. All participating entries will be viewed by judged by selected professionals coming from all branches of documentary photography, curatorial, editorial and related fields. Judges will use an averaged score system to produce a ?Top 5? shortlist, and then a winning entry.
2. Judges familiar with finals entries or entrants will be asked to excuse themselves from our finals judging process. The President & Founder of the Board will vote in the event a stalemate occurs in the finals judging.
E. Award/Grant Recipient Project Rules & Funding
1. Upon notification that you have been selected as our Award/Grant recipient, you agree to complete your Award/Grant project within nine months of date and year
selected not to exceed date and year of our next call for entries.
2. Grant funding will be disseminated in ?Two Equal Installments? of  $2,500 USD, transferred to your account as your project is completed and submitted to us for approval.
3. The grant recipient shall credit MROF as the sponsor of the project in any press release, letter, email, interview, or other communication about the project to the news media, galleries, exhibition spaces, publications or other third parties, or to the
general public, or in any web site or other electronic or online presentation of the project created or controlled by the grant recipient, as well as in any exhibition or any publication, book, catalogue or other printed or published material, and any film or
video of work associated with the project.
F. Advertising & Publicity Permissions
1. It is our goal to showcase the work of all of our photographers. Copyright and all other rights remain with the author. Any photograph(s) we use will carry the photographer’s credit line. All entrants understand that The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film may use images of the winning project for marketing and promotional purposes of Foundation activities including at media events such as
exhibitions, print and digital media directly related to our award competition. There will be no monetary compensation for such events. Use may include publication on our website, media sponsored publications and promotional materials. By receiving
or placing in the competition, you are agreeing to be included in the ?Hall of Excellence? of our website.
G. Other Rules
1. The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film reserves the right to deny consideration for any project at any time.
H. Mini-sites
1. All entrants, regardless of selection process, will receive a complimentary ?Mini-Site? with space for up to 5 of their best images as part of our thank you for participating. Your ?Mini-Sites? may be linked as often as you would like, and updated as frequently as you would like. We encourage each participant to link their ?Mini-Site? to their personal website (if they have one) and tweet their presence online as part of our MROFDPF website to their friends and family.
I. Return of Entries
1. No entry material will be returned.
2. All entries will remain catalogued in our files in perpetuity under your name bearing your copyright.
IV. SUBMISSIONS CHECKLIST
A. 15-image portfolio (in PDF format) from a recently completed, cohesive documentary photographic project;
B. A copy of your photographic R?sum? (CV);
C. A headshot;
D. A ?Submissions for Grant Proposal? ? three-page maximum or 1500 word
count;
E. A budget proposal for your documentary project.
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