Santa Fe Prize

The biennial Santa Fe Prize for Photography recognizes and rewards a gifted and comm-
itted photographer who has completed, or is near completion of, a meaningful body of work. This prize is to bring new work to light by awarding an under-recognized talent.

Prizes

Guidelines

The award process is by nomination only; photographers cannot apply independently.

2009 Juror

Charlotte Cotton, Curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

"More than any other year that I have been judging contemporary photography competitions, there’s a welcome rise in the number of nominated photographers engaging with our big social and political issues, looking out in to the world for the stories of who and what we are...

"Because I took my time, and returned throughout the past three weeks to the photographers and bodies of work that I felt were the strongest, I hope my choices for the prize and finalists are not governed by the novelty of seeing a body of work for the first time or dependent on my mood on a particular day! Instead, I gradually selected down to the projects where I felt the photographer had meaningfully investigated their subjects, created successful and enduring balances between their concept and the real experience of their chosen subjects."

2009 Winner

Hiroyo Kaneko, San Francisco, CA; Sentimental Education

Finalists

Monika Bielskyte, Paris, France; A Place to Wash the Heart

Carolyn Drake, New York, NY; Paradise Rivers

Lucas Foglia, New York, NY; Re-Wilding

Soo Kim, Los Angeles, CA: Midnight Reyjavik

Janelle Lynch, New York, NY; Los Jardines Perdidos, Mexico