THE CENTER AWARDS

THE CENTER AWARDS

Image detail from the series Don't Be a Square © Margeaux Walter, 2023 Environmental Award Recipient

Announcing the Winners

The CENTER Awards recognize outstanding images, singular or part of a series, in three categories: Personal, Social, and Environmental. All submissions will become part of the CENTER archive serving as an ongoing mission-driven fine art and documentary imagery resource.

A broad and inclusive interpretation of the themes is encouraged:
• The Personal Awards recognize work engaging in the exploration, expression, the power of self-representation and/or underrepresented experiences.
• The Social Awards recognize work engaged in social issues. All projects exploring social topics or themes are eligible.
• The Environmental Awards recognize work focusing on the state of the ecological environment. Topics may include but are not limited to, conservation, biodiversity, ecology, climate change, or other issues concerning the natural world. All projects exploring ecological relationships, topics, or themes are eligible.

PACKAGES

– The Personal, Social, and Environmental Awards support one artist each.

• Professional Development Seminars
Review Santa Fe Admission
• Project Presentation
• Publication in LENSCRATCH
• Inclusion in the CENTER Winners Gallery & Archive

PERSONAL AWARD RECIPIENT

Elizabeth Z. PinedaMaíz

FROM THE PROJECT STATEMENT: What does someone’s culture, heritage, and identity say about a person? This work began after a recent experience when my personal documents were deemed invalid because they held my married name and not my given name when I was first applying for a passport. I would need a picture ID of me as a child to prove my name and my identity. I was deeply hurt, in shock, and angered. It felt like erasure.

JUROR: Amanda Hajjar • Director of Exhibitions, Fotografiska New York

Amanda Hajjar is the Founding Director of Exhibitions of Fotografiska New York. Hajjar collaborates with world-renowned artists to bring their exhibitions from initial concept to final reality. She has juried numerous awards, most recently the British Journal of Photography’s International Photography Award (2022), the PHMuseum 2022 Women Photographers Grant, and the Leica Women Foto Project Award (2022). Prior to Fotografiska, Hajjar was an Artist Liaison at Gagosian Gallery New York where she organized more than 50 exhibitions with artists and their estates. Hajjar graduated with a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

SOCIAL AWARD RECIPIENT

Rocky McCorkleBlazer

FROM THE PROJECT STATEMENT: 800 still frames belong fully to the genre of fiction, with one frame being inspired by a true event. The plot is inspired by the true story of an amateur photographer who was shot dead as he took a picture of his family in 2011 that freeze-framed his killer and killer’s accomplice in the act, synchronously creating a once-in-a-lifetime photo (No 715). The film recontextualizes events that led to and proceeded his unbelievable photograph.

JUROR: Nakyung Han • Deputy Photo Editor, Features, The New York Times

Nakyung is a Deputy Photo Editor for Features and Business with The New York Times.

She started at The New York Times in 2005 where she had picture editing tours of duty on the Business, Culture, Metro, and Science desks.

Previously, she was a photo editor for a variety of magazines, including Fortune, New York Magazine, and Budget Travel, though her roots can be traced to The Village Voice newspaper.

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD RECIPIENT

Margeaux WalterDont’ Be a Square

FROM THE PROJECT STATEMENT: I am exploring ways to depict a disconnection with the landscape in reference to climate change denial through staged site-specific photography. Thinking about the notion of invisibility in the age of heightened surveillance I have been conceptualizing works centered around how invisibility and denial feed into representations of climate change.

JUROR: Quentin Nardi • Chief Photo Editor, Smithsonian magazine

Quentin Nardi, Chief Photo Editor for the Smithsonian magazine, is a photo editor/director professional with 20 years of national magazine and photo editing experience in both print and digital platforms.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

WINNER’S GALLERY

Supporters