On behalf of the EP Board of Directors and our guest judges Elliot Erwitt and Ed Kashi, I’m very pleased to announce the winners of the 2011 Editorial Photographers Education Grants. This year’s entries were by far the strongest we have received. All judges commented on the extremely high quality of the work.

Legendary photographer Elliot Erwitt, hot off his ICP Lifetime Achievement Award, selected Sean DuFrene as this year’s Grand Prize Winner and Unnikrishna Raveendranathan as our Runner-up. Both are from Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Sean DuFrene wins the Grand Prize of a Sony a850 camera with Sony’s Zeiss 24-70/2.8 lens:

Grand PrizeWinner Sean DuFrene -Academy of Art University, San Francisco.

Unnikrishna Raveendranathan wins an APhotoFolio website with a year of hosting courtesy of Rob Haggart.

Runner-up Unnikrishna Raveendranathan - Academy of Art University, San Francisco

Brandon Wickenkamp - Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City

Kevin Truong - The Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York

Brad Vest - Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

Tim Harris - Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY

All winners will receive:

* Cash award of $1,000 courtesy of EP and Blinkbid
* One year subscription to PhotoShelter
* Licensed copy of fotoQuote Pro
* Licensed copy of Blinkbid
* One-year subscription to FreshLists
* Gear from Think Tank Photo
* One year membership to EP

I would like to thank all our judges and sponsors from Sony, APhotoFolio, Blinkbid, PhotoShelter, fotoQuote, FreshLists and Think Tank Photo who made this year’s competition possible.

-Brian Smith
President, Editorial Photographers

In an effort to recognize and support emerging photographers, Editorial Photographers is pleased to announce the 2011 EP Education Grants photo competition!

Six finalists will be chosen to each receive prize packages that include a cash award of $1000 courtesy of EP and Blinkbid, plus gear from Think Tank Photo, a one year subscription to PhotoShelter, a licensed copy of fotoQuote, a licensed copy of Blinkbid, a one-year subscription to FreshLists, and a one year subscription to EP all to help launch your photo career. That’s almost $2000 worth of prizes each!

We’re especially excited that new for 2011 is a top Grand Prize chosen from among the finalists by internationally-acclaimed Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt consisting of a Sony a850 camera with Sony CZ 24-70/2.8 lens worth more than $3500, courtesy of Sony. That means more than $5000 in prizes for the Grand Prize winner! Lastly, one finalist will also be chosen to receive a website designed and hosted by APhotoFolio.

In addition to Mr. Erwitt who will choose the Grand Prize recipient, the panel of judges will also include renowned photojournalist Ed Kashi, EP Board Members, and other industry guest judges to be announced shortly.

Eligible contestants must be enrolled in an accredited, full time college photography program in the U.S. or Canada during the 2010-2011 school year. Previous winners are not eligible to enter again. All entries must be completed by 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on April 1, 2011, so don’t delay!

Editorial Photographers is pleased to announce the winners of the 2nd Annual EP Education Grants student photo competition:

Leah Tepper-Byrne – ICP
Theresa Juarez – Academy of Art University, SF
ValJean Anderson – Academy of Art University, SF
Eliot Crowley – Academy of Art University, SF
Ross Feighery – Columbia College, Chicago
Samuel James – Tufts University
Joseph Escamilla – Pasadena Art Center College of Design

Each winner will receive a $1000 cash prize, ThinkTank Urban Disguise 30 camera bag, Blinkbid Software, one year Livebooks:Edu subscription, one year PhotoShelter standard account, and other prizes.

The winners were selected by members of the EP Board of Directors and Special Guest Judges:

Laurie Kratochvil, former Director of Photography at Rolling Stone and InStyle
Rob Haggart, of aphotoeditor.com, former Director of Photography at Men’s Journal and Outside
Ronnie Weil, Director of Photography at Business Week
Robert Mansfield, Art Director at Forbes

EP wishes to congratulate or winners and thank our lovely judges!
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Editorial Photographers [EP] is a non-profit, mutual benefit organization of working and emerging photographers, educators, and students who participate in the field of editorial photography. EP’s mission is to raise awareness of proper business practices among photographers, and to advocate for contracts and terms that allow both creators and users of editorial photography to profit and prosper. To apply for membership in EP, please visit http://www.editorialphoto.com/register

FIRST: Most importantly…Shoot what you love to shoot. Work that’s from the heart will always be your strongest work. NEVER FORGET TO HAVE FUN!

SECOND: The next most important thing you can learn is how to relate to people. Even if you are a still life, architectural or landscape photographer who never shoots people you still must relate to people like clients, architects, designers and of course accounts payable. So go out and find 50 strangers, introduce yourself to them and shoot a portrait that says something about who they are – not just what they do.

THIRD: If you are trying to move on to better clients, treat every assignment you get as though you are shooting for your dream client. If you are at a small weekly newspaper and your dream is to shoot for a large metro, approach every assignment as though it was your first week at that dream job. The same is true if you are at a large metro newspaper and dream of shooting for Rolling Stone. Start shooting every job that way. Too many photographers just slide by with the idea that they can raise their quality when they get the ‘right’ clients and then wonder why they never get where they want to be. The truth is that as you advance up the ladder, the assignments don’t necessarily get any better but expectations certainly get higher. Raise your game … now!

FOURTH: INVEST! Stock, bonds, mutual funds, real estate … Even if you are one of those lucky bastards with a staff job and a retirement plan, let a portion of your earnings start working for you. Most photographers starting out don’t feel they can afford to put money away. The truth is you can’t afford NOT to!

For more suggestions like this, take a look at advice that I collected from my fellow members of Editorial Photographers in piece called “Starting Out.”