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Awards and Fellowships

The Pratt Photography Department is proud to offer its students unique award and fellowship opportunities such as the Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarship and Made in NYC Photography Fellowship.

Untitled, Washington, D.C., 1963. Photograph by Gordon Parks; Courtesy of and copyright The Gordon Parks Foundation

The Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarships

The Gordon Parks Foundation’s Scholarship Program was created in 2009 in partnership with significant arts education institutions to support exceptionally talented students in disciplines that represent the depth, breadth and integrity of Gordon Parks’ work. The fund provides scholarships to students of the arts who may otherwise be unable to pursue further instruction in the creative arts.

Pratt Institute is considered a leading center for creativity and innovation that has a transformative impact on society and the world. Pratt’s Photography Department emphasizes a cross-disciplinary practice and a core curriculum that promotes student’s technical and conceptual development with the medium as well as a broad arts and liberal arts education. In 2017, The Gordon Parks Foundation began awarding three scholarships annually to exceptional students with financial need. 

Pratt Institute’s Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarship Recipients are:

  • 2020: Brandon Foushee, B.F.A. class of ’21; Maian Tran, B.F.A. class of ’21; and Marley Trigg Stewart, B.F.A. class of ‘22
  • 2019: Madison Burger, B.F.A. class of ’20; Brandon Foushee, B.F.A. class of ’21; and Evalina Sundbye, B.F.A. class of ’20
  • 2018: Alanna Fields, M.F.A. class of ’19; Akhira Montague, B.F.A. class of ’19; and Evalina Sundbye, B.F.A. class of ’20
  • 2017: Abbi Newfeld, B.F.A. class of ’18; Cheyenne Coleman, B.F.A. class of ’19; and Evalina Sundbye, B.F.A. class of ’20

Students are encouraged to apply and will be selected by a faculty committee based on the excellence of their work. Students must be enrolled in the Pratt Institute Photography Program and must be eligible for Student Financial Aid in order to apply. Special consideration will be given to students who represent diversity in all its forms.

The Gordon Parks Dialogues

NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Pratt Institute have partnered to co-host the first Gordon Parks Dialogues at Pratt Institute on Saturday, October 28, 2017 from 8:30 AM–1 PM. Teams of scholarship recipients from Fashion Institute of Technology; NYU Tisch School of the Arts; Purchase College, SUNY; Pratt Institute; and Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation will present their work in a symposium centered around social justice and the arts.

Over more than half a century Gordon Parks famously used his camera as “a weapon of choice” to contest racial injustice. For nearly a decade Gordon Parks Foundation Scholarship Recipients have continued the artist’s legacy in a continually changing world by engaging issues regarding social injustice with fresh eyes. Each participating Gordon Parks Dialogues panel will address how their artists’ creative work defines today’s society and how they can combat social injustice and perpetuate political and social change.

Following the presentations, the 2017 Gordon Parks Fellows, Devin Allen and Harriet Dedman, will present their work followed by a discussion with Prof. Deborah Willis, Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at NYU Tisch and Prof. Stephen Hilger, Chair of the Photography Department at Pratt Institute.

The Gordon Parks Dialogues are co-sponsored by The Gordon Parks Foundation, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and Pratt Institute.

Made in NYC Photography Fellowship

The Made in NYC Photography Fellowship is a collaboration with the Photography Department and Pratt Center’s Made in NYC Initiative to support local manufacturers with photographic support. Three Undergraduate Fellowships are available each spring semester. Students receive tuition remission for their participation. Undergraduate Photography students who are proficient in digital capture, retouching, and lighting are encouraged to apply. 

The 2020-2021 Made in NYC Photography Fellows are:

  • Brandon Foushee, Undergraduate Fellow
  • Audrey Kenison, Undergraduate Fellow
  • Marley Trigg Stewart, Undergraduate Fellow

The 2019-2020 Made in NYC Photography Fellows are:

  • Madison Burger, Undergraduate Fellow 
  • Brandon Foushee, Undergraduate Fellow
  • Isabelle Sun Lee, Undergraduate Fellow
  • Mackenzie Lynch, Undergraduate Fellow

The 2018 Made in NYC Photography Fellows are:

  • Mathilde van Nuffel, Graduate Fellow 
  • Madison Burger, Undergraduate Fellow
  • Elizabeth Coetzee, Undergraduate Fellow
  • Wasi Ferdus, Undergraduate Fellow

Contact Adjunct Associate Professor Stephanie Powell for more information: spowell@pratt.edu.  Read more information about Made in NYC