2008 Nikon Reportage Social Photo Documentary Grant Winner is:

MICHAEL HAGEDORN, GERMANY 

Winner of the $10,000 Nikon Reportage Grant for an Australian Social Photo Documentary. Hagedorn has proposed to use the grant for a project he has called "Warding off Wawu Warra" a focus on the condition of Dementia quietly suffered by Australian Indigenous People":  Aboriginal people aged 45 years and older were found to have around four times the non-indigenous rate of dementia.

There are strong and encouraging indications that traditional Aboriginal ways of dealing with symptoms like dementia might lead to a new understanding of and a new approach to dealing with this global social and human challenge.

Judges for 2008 Grant: Alasdair Foster (Director of The Australian Centre For Photography), Mike Bowers (Sydney Morning Herald Photographic); Jacqui Vicario (Festival Director, Reportage)

INFORMATION ABOUT THE GRANT:

Applications are open to Australian and international photographers and must be used to document a story within Australia. Travel costs to/from Australia and within are to be budgeted within the grant bursary, travel costs will not be provided additionally.

Launched for the 2008 Reportage Festival, this biennial grant of $10,000 will assist a photographer to research, create and produce a new and compelling social documentary work in Australia. The results of the work will be shown at the 2010 Reportage Festival.

Graig Gillespie, Marketing Manager at Nikon comments, "We at Nikon feel strongly about investing in social documentary photography in Australia and continuing our long-standing commitment with professional photographers. Fostering new perspectives is something we are particularly excited about."

The story should present aspects of life in Australia, whether it be concerned with an individual, a family, a community or an aspect of a community. The story may observe relationships between people, or between people and their environment. New and previously untold stories will be of particular interest.

An independent and disclosed jury of three will decide on the recipient for the grant and this will be announced on the opening night of the Reportage Festival in October 2008.

The photographer will have until August 2010 to complete their project, which will be shown at the Reportage Festival in 2010.

Download the Entry Form and Guidelines PDF here.