2027 Richards Family Prize

The Griffin Museum is proud to support emerging, mid-career and professional talents in the field of photography.  We support visual artists with dynamic and creative ideas that challenge and progress the art form forward to new heights in vision and technology. Our support of photography is broad, from Fine Art to Documentary and Photojournalism, from digital to film-based works and cameraless images. The Richards Family Prize is a scholarship support mid-career photographers producing work that is creative and original.

This $4,000 scholarship, catalog and exhibition is open to professional and mid-career photographers worldwide.  We define “professional” as any photographer who earns the majority of their income from photography. We define “mid-career” as any photographer with some visibility in exhibitions, gallery representation and scholarship and residency success in their photography career. 

Juror, Alison Nordström

Application period opens on Monday October 5, 2026

The Griffin Museum is pleased to announce its call for the 2026 scholarship for mid career artists, the Richards Family Prize. 

We are proud to support photographers at all stages of their professional development in the field. We support visual artists with dynamic and creative ideas that challenge and progress the art form forward to new heights in vision and technology. Our support of photography is broad, from Fine Art to Documentary and Photojournalism, from digital to film-based works and cameraless images. The Richards Family Prize is a scholarship support mid-career photographers producing work that is creative and original.

This $4,000 scholarship is open to professional and mid-career photographers worldwide.  We define “professional” as any photographer who earns the majority of their income from photography. We define “mid-career” as any photographer with some visibility in exhibitions, gallery representation and scholarship and residency success in their photography career. 

In addition to the scholarship funds, the Richards Prize includes a published catalog by Griffin Museum Press and an exhibition in December 2026. 

About the Juror, Alison Nordström

Alison Nordström is an independent scholar, writer and curator, working in photography. She was Founding Director and Senior Curator of the Southeast Museum of Photography, and Senior Curator of Photographs/Director of Exhibitions at George Eastman House. She has curated over 150 photographic exhibitions in nine countries, including Truth/Beauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art, 1845-1945, Lewis Hine, and Ideas in Things: Photography and Materiality. She is the author of over 100 books and essays on photographic topics, among them Joan Fontcuberta: Photography Crisis of History, Reading Magnum: A Visual Archive of the Modern World and Constantine Manos’s American Color. Since 2021, she has organized Photo Soup, an annual gathering of selected workers in the field of photography, with the aim of preserving personal histories and ideas in a series of publications. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Nordström is currently a Museum Associate at Harvard University. She holds the PhD in Cultural and Visual Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

The scholarship is open to creative artists and photographers who have produced individual works of photography, installation, moving images or sculpture works and/or are in the process of producing larger bodies of work.

We are looking for candidates who are serious about photography and whose creative practice will benefit from this scholarship. 

There is no age limit. There are no residency requirements. There is no application fee.

This scholarship is for professional and mid-career photographers and creative artists. Well-established photographers are individuals in mid-photography-careers and are seen by the public and peers as distinguished in the field of photography and have many accomplishments as a photographer.  

Employees of the Griffin Museum or their immediate families, Griffin Museum board members and jurors’ immediate families and those immediate families of Griffin board members or jurors’ paid employees are not eligible.

Submissions

Submissions will be made directly to Café. 

You are being asked to provide a brief biography and artistic cv; a statement of artistic purpose/intent; a statement on the work supplied and flattened rgb jpgs (1200 pixels on the longest side) of your photographs or/ and videos (10 photographs total). Please submit a link for a video.

Please submit your images in the order you wish them to appear. numbering from 01-10 will be helpful to the jurors so they can see your intention with the works. 

Cafe will be the primary portal for submissions. No other means of submission will be accepted. All missing criteria will disqualify the submission. Emails will not be accepted as a method of submissions. 

Biography, Artist Statement and CV - 

Please submit a text biography about your creative journey and a CV showing exhibition history, residencies, publications, etc. (a single PDF that includes both bio and cv. In the PDF title include Richards Family and last name and first name.)

Statement of Artistic Intent - 

Discuss the project as a whole and your anticipated outcomes with the scholarship in mind. How will this funding enhance your practice?

Image submission - 10 images Maximum

Submit flattened rgb jpgs (1200 pixels on the longest side) of your photographs or/ and videos (10 photographs total). Please submit a link for a video.

It is recommended that you prepare all the elements of the application in advance. Do not start the application if you do not have time to finish it. Wait until you have time to complete the application in one session.

Scholarship Dates and Deadlines:
Monday October 5, 2026. Application Period begins.

Friday November 6, 2026: Application period closes at 11:59 PM Mountain Time. 

Questions? For more information about the scholarship, contact the museum by email. Please no phone calls. Email us at photos@griffinmuseum.org with Richards Prize in the subject line. 

See Application Requirements above

See Eligibility Criteria above