The IAFOR Documentary Photography Award was launched by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) in 2015 as an international photography award that seeks to promote and assist in the professional development of emerging documentary photographers and photojournalists.
As an organisation, IAFOR’s mission is to promote international exchange, facilitate intercultural awareness, encourage interdisciplinary discussion, and generate and share new knowledge. In keeping with this mission, in appreciation of the great value of photography as a medium that can be shared across borders of language, culture and nation, and to influence and inform our academic work and programmes, the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award was launched as a competition that would help underline the importance of the organisation’s aims, and would promote and recognise best practice and excellence.
Now in its fifth year, the award has already been widely recognised by those in the industry and has been supported by World Press Photo, British Journal of Photography, Metro Imaging, MediaStorm, Think Tank Photo, University of the Arts London, RMIT University, The Centre for Documentary Practice, and the Medill School of Journalism.
This session will include a screening of the most recent (2018) award winners selection, and will be followed by a discussion on the importance and relevance of documentary photography and photojournalism with the 2018 Grand Prize Winner, Ezra Acayan, an internationally published, award-winning photojournalist from the Philippines, and Bradley J. Hamm, former dean of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, USA.
Featured Image | From the series "Duterte's War on Drugs is Not Over" by Ezra Acayan
