Lucie Foundation Scholarship Program 2026

The Lucie Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit best known for the annual Lucie Awards and the International Photography Awards (IPA). Its Scholarship Program runs alongside those, awarding four cash grants per year split across two categories: Fine Art and Photojournalism/Documentary. Each category is divided between Professional and Emerging applicants, where "Professional" means earning the majority of one's income from photography and "Emerging" covers students, photographers in their first five career years, or those who do not earn the majority of their income from the medium.

Prize structure: Fine Art Professional $3,000; Fine Art Emerging $1,000; Photojournalism/Documentary Professional $3,000; Photojournalism/Documentary Emerging $1,000 plus a Sony camera and lens. Winners are featured in a group exhibition that travels to the House of Lucie galleries in Los Angeles, Athens, Budapest, Ostuni, and Samui — five physical venues across three continents.

Submissions are open to photographers worldwide aged 18 and older. Applicants submit a 1,500-character project proposal, a one-page biography or CV, and twenty digital images (JPG, 72 DPI, max 4MB each). Entry fees are $25 (Professional) and $15 (Emerging), with early-bird discounts of 20% (through April 23) and 10% (through April 30). The 2026 final deadline is September 30; winners are announced in October.

The 2026 jury comprises Antares Wells (Assistant Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia), Kateryna Radchenko (Ukraine-based curator and photography researcher), and Elizabeth Ferrer (curator and writer specializing in Latinx photography).