Student Scholarships

Supporting the next generation of photojournalists through financial assistance and educational opportunities. The National Press Photographers Foundation offers a variety of scholarships and grants designed to support students pursuing careers in photojournalism and visual storytelling. Our programs provide financial assistance, mentorship opportunities, and professional development resources to help emerging photographers succeed in the field.

Applications are currently Closed

How the Scholarships Application Works

Scholarship Applications Open Dec. 3, 2025

We offer eleven (11) $2,500 scholarships. Details of those scholarships are here.

Who is Eligible?

Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled for the spring semester of 2026 and attending a four-year college or university in the United States. International students residing in the U.S. are eligible.

The Deadline for Entries is 5:59 P.M. Eastern Time, Friday, February 6, 2026.

Recipients will be notified via email within a month of the deadline.

Sponsors — We are pleased to have corporate sponsors for our scholarships that will provide gifts in addition to the $2,500 award.

Student Group Teleconference — Student groups are welcome to set up a teleconference with Dr. James Kelly, director of scholarships at NPPF, to confer on portfolio development and to answer any questions on the application procedure. Request a meeting by email at jkelly@nppf.org.

NPPF Scholarship Application

NPPF scholarships are awarded to encourage those with the talent and dedication to photojournalism and who need financial help to continue their studies.

Still photographers apply for a pool of nine scholarships: the Bob Baxter Scholarship, Blackburn/East Scholarship, James Brown & Frank Folwell Scholarship, Liane Enkelis Scholarship, C. Thomas Hardin and Mary C. Hardin Scholarship, King/Lott Scholarship, Mary Lou Foy Still and Multimedia Scholarship, Sony’s Photojournalism Scholarship, and the Xan Korman Scholarship.

Video Storytellers may additionally apply for the TV Scholarship by including at least two video files in their portfolio.

Student Leaders who have demonstrated significant leadership in their field and elsewhere may additionally apply for the Rich Clarkson Founders Scholarship by writing an additional essay and securing an additional letter of reference.

A jury of top professional picture editors evaluate each application and award scholarships according to their determination of who best matches the donor’s criteria.

Preparing to Apply

Obtain a letter recommending you and describing your qualifications from a professor/lecturer familiar with your photojournalism.
The letter must be on university letterhead, dated 2025, and include the professor’s signature. Save file in PDF format.
Applicants for the Clarkson Scholarship need a second recommendation letter from a non-academic person familiar with their leadership qualities.
You will upload your letter(s) as PDFs to Picter, our online contest site.

You must complete a form that will be your CV for the NPPF submission on Picter. It requires:

Contact information
Academic standing (including GPA)
Campus news media experience
Confirmation that you adhere to NPPA’s Code of Ethics
Three or four, one-page essays about:
- Your journey as a student photojournalist
- Your need for financial assistance
- Your career aspirations
- Your leadership skills and experiences (Clarkson applicants only)

Save the file as “yourlastname_yourfirstname_University.PDF”. Upload this PDF to Picter.

Portfolio Preparation

General Portfolio Submission Instructions

Your portfolio should show your storytelling ability.

A portfolio may include Single Pictures, Picture Stories and Videos. The maximum number of image files is 24. The maximum number of video files is 10.

Examples

10 Singles + one 12-image picture story + 2 videos
Two 12-image picture stories
10 videos
24 singles

All still photographs must have captions and required metadata.

Image Permission

Applying for our scholarships grants NPPF permission to publish your images on our website and social media. You retain copyright.

Completing Your Application at Picter.com

After completing your CV and preparing your materials, go to:
http://www.picter.com/nppf/scholarships

The Picter site will ask for your name, date of birth, permanent address, personal email, and personal mobile number.

Important: Type “Clarkson” into the Biography field if applying for the Clarkson Scholarship.

Please email questions to Dr. James Kelly at jkelly@nppf.org.

Deadlines

✗ Applications are currently Closed

Named Scholarships

National Press Photographers Foundation (NPPF)

Scholarship Terms and Conditions

Eligibility

Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled for the spring semester of 2025 at a four-year college or university in the United States. International students enrolled in U.S. programs are eligible.
Confirmation that the student’s conduct and work are consistent with the National Press Photographers Association’s Code of Ethics.
Completion of the NPPF CV form located at: https://nppf.org/nppf-scholarships, uploaded to Picter.
A recommendation letter on university letterhead describing applicant’s qualifications signed by a professor/lecturer.
Applicants for the Clarkson Scholarship need a second recommendation letter from a non-academic person familiar with their leadership qualities.
Recipient’s application information and submitted documents are subject to verification by the NPPF, whose decisions are final and binding in all matters related to the scholarship.
If the NPPF finds cause to disqualify a submission after a scholarship has been announced or awarded, the scholarship may be rescinded.
Decisions regarding the eligibility and integrity of all submissions reside solely with the NPPF and those decisions shall be final.

Intellectual property

Submitted materials are confidential and will be used only for judging purposes except for awarded scholarships.
The recipient retains the ownership and copyright of their work product.
The recipient grants the NPPF the right to use their name, likeness, biographical information, submitted images and/or videos from the application and projects images on NPPF’s website, any social media publicizing the NPPF programs and publications, including but not limited to its educational, promotional and fundraising purposes at the NPPF’s sole discretion, without additional permission or consideration, or notification to the grant recipient or any third party.
The recipient also grants the NPPF its licensees, affiliates and their designees an irrevocable, non-exclusive, perpetual royalty-free license to use elements of their project (or the project in its entirety) on the NPPF’s website, on social media and as promotional materials to fundraise and promote the scholarship program. The recipient also hereby grants the NPPF the right to make their project or any and all elements thereof available for educational purposes, including to colleges and universities of the NPPF’s choosing.

Ethics:

An entry may not contain images that have been manipulated digitally in violation of generally accepted professional photojournalistic standards. Applicants should review and adhere to the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Code of Ethics concerning image manipulation.
The NPPF, in its sole discretion, retains the right to disqualify any entry found to include manipulated images or staged situations. Any use of Photoshop’s Content Aware feature is disqualifying manipulation.
The NPPF, in its sole discretion, may exercise its right to rescind the entire award amount if the grantee is found to have manipulated images beyond what is professionally accepted, as noted in the NPPA Code of Ethics.

Financial:

Payment of any taxes and expenses are solely the responsibility of the recipient.
The NPPF will deposit $2,000 into each student awardee’s university/college bursar account or mail a check for $2,000 to the recipient, as instructed. Students are responsible for providing account information or mailing address upon notification of the award.

Any questions?

Please feel free to contact us.

Send email to Prof. James Kelly at:
scholarships@nppf.org
with subject line “NPPF Scholarship Question”

Ready to Apply?

Submit one application to be considered for all eligible scholarships.

Start the Scholarships Application

Student Scholarships

How the Scholarships Application Works

Scholarship Applications Open Dec. 3, 2025

Who is Eligible?

The Deadline for Entries is 5:59 P.M. Eastern Time, Friday, February 6, 2026.

NPPF Scholarship Application

Preparing to Apply

Portfolio Preparation

General Portfolio Submission Instructions

Examples

Image Permission

Completing Your Application at Picter.com

Deadlines

Named Scholarships

Bob Baxter Scholarship

Bob East Scholarship

C. Thomas Hardin and Mary C. Hardin Documentary Photojournalism Scholarship

Milton Freier Memorial CPOYi Award

G. Gordon Yoder TV NewsVideo Workshop Scholarship

Hutchison/Wheeler Storytelling Award

James Brown and Frank Folwell Scholarship

Jimi Lott Scholarship

Kit C. King Scholarship

Mark Edelson Picture Editing Scholarship

Mary Lou Foy Still and Multimedia Scholarship

NPPF TV News Scholarship

Reid Blackburn Scholarship

Rich Clarkson Founders Scholarship

Sony's Photojournalism Scholarship

Xan Korman Scholarship

NPPF Scholarship Terms and Conditions