© Jacob Moss, Provided by Alanna Styer

Teaching Award

Established in 1998, the annual Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award honors a high school, college, or postgraduate teacher’s dedication and commitment to their students and field. Educators in all areas of photographic teaching are eligible – including but not limited to fine art, documentary, history, and criticism.

EDUCATORS MUST POSSESS
• A genuine passion for teaching
• An ability to excite students to learn
• A respect for students as individuals
• An enduring artistic curiosity

AWARD PACKAGE
• $5,000 USD
• Review Santa Fe Admission
• Access to Professional Development Seminars
• Inclusion in the CENTER Image & Library

2024 Juror

Portrait © Giles Clement

Alanna Styer • 2023 Teaching Award Winner – Documentary Artist, Educator, Activist, Education Research Fellow, Photographer’s Green Book, and Director of Education, Venice Arts Los Angeles • alannastyer.com

“The realm of vision, to which photography belongs, offers a tremendous amount of passion and emotions to interpret the daily encounters of people, events, and places that we come into contact with. The practice of photography enables us to interact with the cultures in which we live from a variety of viewpoints, including the emic and the etic points of view. But so long as our positions touch on those emotions and passions that make us human or cross the paths of both the ‘other’ and the ‘self’ that interrogate our sanity, photography will always continue to be an important medium of expression and of engagement in various social, cultural, and political conversations in the 21st century and beyond. This will be the case so long as our positions touch on the emotions and passions that make us human.” – Uche Okpa-Iroha, 2022 Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient and 2023 Award Juror

From the Nominations –

“She is passionate about finding ways to introduce photography to underserved students and make art a part of their daily lives.”

“Alanna not only cares about teaching about art and photography, but has also built her syllabi around decolonizing historical narratives through lenses of race, gender, and culture.”

“Perhaps the most selfless part of her teaching style is that she makes these guides and references free so that all educators have access to open these kinds of discussions.”

Previous Winners

  • 2023 • Alanna Styer

    Documentary Artist, Educator, Activist, Education Research Fellow, Photographer’s Green Book, and Program Manager, Media Arts Education and Mentoring, Venice Arts Los Angeles

  • 2022 • Uche Okpa-Iroha

    Visual Artist, Art and Culture Producer, Art Educator, Independent Curator, Mentor, and Founder and Director, The Nlele Institute Lagos, Nigeria

  • 2021 • Peter Brown

    Photographer and Instructor, Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA

  • 2020 • Frank Lopez

    Photographer and Teacher, Greenhill School, Addison, Texas, USA

  • 2019 • Tony Chirinos

    Artist, Photographer, and Associate Senior Professor of Photography, Miami Dade College, Miami, Florida, USA

  • 2017 • Cig Harvey

    Maine Media College, Anderson Ranch, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, Maine, USA

  • 2015 • Joe Johnson

    Head of Photography Department, University of Missouri, Lecturer at Carnegie Mellon, Indiana University, MassArt, Rhode Island College, DeCordova Museum, and the Beach Museum, Missouri, USA

  • 2014 • Aline Smithson

    CENTER Workshop Instructor, Fine Art Department Instructor, Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles, California, USA

  • 2013 • Jessamyn Lovell

    Art Department Senior Lecturer, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

  • 2012 • Stephan Hillenbrand

    Associate Professor, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

  • 2011 • Kerry Skarbakka

    Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA

  • 2010 • Sean Kernan

    Savannah College of Art and Design, Maine Photo Workshops, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops and the Art Center, Pasadena, Connecticut, USA

  • 2009 • Archy Baker LaSalle

    Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, Massachusetts, USA

  • 2008 • Patrick Hebert

    Instructor, Art Center College of Design, CA, and Associate Director of Education, AIDS Project Los Angeles, California, USA

  • 2007 • Joan Dooley

    Bell School of Humanities Academy, Los Angeles, California, USA

  • 2006 • John Weiss

    Professor of Art, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA

  • 2005 • Rose Marasco

    Professor of Art, University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine, USA

  • 2004 • Lauren Shaw

    Associate Professor, Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

  • 2003 • Susan Kae Grant

    Professor of Photography, Texas Women’s University, Denton, Texas, USA

  • 2002 • Don Gregorio Anton

    Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, USA

  • 2001 • Joleen Mahoney Roe

    Bethlehem Central High School, Delmar, New York, USA

  • 2000 • Catherine Angel

    Associate Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

  • 1998 • Eddie Soloway

    Instructor, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, National Geographic Presenter, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Supporter

Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, the Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award, provides recognition and financial support to a photographic educator annually.

Thank you to all of those who help to recognize unsung heroes of photographic education by nominating for the Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award.