“Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.” — Colleen Wilcox
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 fine art, documentary, history, and criticism. In honor of their exemplary teaching skills and techniques the Teaching Award recipient receives $5,000 in financial support, Review Santa Fe Admission, access to Professional Development Seminars, Inclusion in the CENTER Image & Library, and a CENTER Supporting Level Membership.
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
2023 RECIPIENT

© Giles Clement
Alanna Styer • Documentary Artist, Educator, Activist, Education Research Fellow, Photographer’s Green Book, & Program Manager of Media Arts Education & Mentoring, Venice Arts Los Angeles • www.alannastyer.com
FROM THE JUROR’S STATEMENT:
“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
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
DONORS
Thanks to a generous donor in 2020, the Excellence in Teaching Award has been renamed the Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award, after our Founder Reid Callanan, and will be supporting dedicated photographic educators annually.
Thank you for the future support of the Callanan Excellence in Teaching Award.