Judges Select 2025 W. Eugene Smith Fund Grant Recipients from More Than 650 Entries Representing 74 Countries

Maen Hammad Receives $30K Smith Grant, Mumin Gul/Shubhadeep Mukherjee Receive Student Grant; Uvas y Hojas Captures Chapnick Grant; Two Finalist Grants Awarded

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, December 18, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The W. Eugene Smith Fund is pleased to announce that Maen Hammad (Palestine / U.S.) is the recipient of this year’s $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his project, Amira’s Castle, an ongoing exploration of his grandparents’ lives—Amira and Mohammad—and his own documentation of the Palestinian present.

Now celebrating its 46th year, the W. Eugene Smith Grant will help Mr. Hammad continue to combine the history of his family with his own journeys. Mr. Hammad’s project was selected from 650 entries representing 74 countries. Since the Smith Fund’s inception in 1979, it has awarded more than $1.4 million to photographers whose past work and proposed projects follow in the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s career as a photographic essayist.

“We continue to be impressed and amazed at the quality of entries we receive each year, and the incredibly diverse stories photographers are sharing with the world,” said Scott Thode, president of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund. “It is the continued generosity of our longtime donors including the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Earth Vision Institute, the John and Anne Duffy Foundation, and PhotoWings, which allow us to provide funding for these incredible stories.”

W. Eugene Smith Grant Recipients
Maen Hammad received the $30,000 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his project, Amira’s Castle. At its center are three threads – his grandfather Mohammad’s revolutionary archive, his grandmother Amira’s daily practice of tending to the land they reclaimed, and his own documentation of the struggle unfolding today. Together they form a dialogue across time, drawing the archive and the land into conversation—and pressing Maen to confront what his responsibility is in carrying those legacies forward today.

“This project is profoundly personal, yet collective,” Maen said after being notified of the jurors’ selection. “It is a story about my grandparents, the small piece of land they returned to, and my people’s ongoing struggle for liberation. In the face of decades of erasure that have failed to unmake us, carrying this archive into the present through images is a responsibility I hold deeply," he added.

The judges also awarded two Finalist awards in this category. Rena Effendi (Turkey) received a $10,000 grant for her work, The Shrinking Sea, which traces changes along the Caspian Sea, including pollution and drying reed beds, as well as other losses scientists believe may be irreversible.

Stefanos Paikos (Berlin / Athens) also received a $10,000 Finalist grant for his story, Reaching for Dusk: Mbeubeuss, which chronicles Mbeubeuss, a massive open-air landfill on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal. It has become an unlikely waypoint on the journey toward Europe. Some are fleeing political instability, others the impossibility of making a living.

W. Eugene Smith Student Grant
Once again, this year’s judges in the Student grant category had a difficult time selecting two ($5,000) grant recipients from the entries received this year. “Judging the Eugene Smith Student grant entries was a great honor, and it was a pleasure to watch and read about the projects from so many talented photographers around the world,” said Soren Pagter, one of this year’s Student category judges. “The variety of projects made the jury’s job both interesting and challenging. From very personal stories to hard core news pictures, the participants showed us the strength and impact that documentary work can have,” he added.

Mumin Gul (Kashmir) is one of this year’s Smith Student grant recipients and attends Pathshala South Asian Media Institute in Bangladesh. His project, Silent Whispers, is primarily based in Indian-administered Kashmir. It is a visual exploration of the nuances of the Kashmir conflict and daily realities of ordinary Kashmiris.

Shubhadeep Mukherjee (New Delhi) is a student at Jamia Millia Islamia University in India. His project, Smells Like Home, is inspired by his father’s journey as a 5-year- old from then-East Pakistan to India after Indian Independence in 1947. Smells Like Home is Shubhadeep’s personal narrative that explores the concept of ‘Home’ from the perspective of childhood.

“I’m deeply grateful to the jury for this honor, and I hope to carry forward the spirit and integrity of Smith’s legacy through my own work,” explained Mr. Mukherjee, who chose W. Eugene Smith as a favorite photographer to write about for a classroom assignment at Jamia Millia Islamia. “This grant is both a recognition and a responsibility that I’m excited to grow into.”

Howard Chapnick Grant
Uvas y Hojas, a cultural center and the only bookstore in El Pescadero, Baja California Sur, is the recipient of this year’s ($7,500) Howard Chapnick grant. What began in 2021 as a small gathering of eight photographers in a walkway has blossomed into a vital community hub. Their monthly event, Foto Viernes, now brings together the work of a dedicated group of 22 local photographers, aged 16 to 80, to share and present free workshops for the public on everything from composition to visual storytelling. They have cultivated a thriving arts scene from the ground up, and with this grant, they aim to channel their community's creative energy toward a pressing local issue. Uvas y Hojas is run and operated by Sandra Reyna, Dominic Bracco II, and Paco Oropeza.

“This funding not only directly supports our students and provides access to essential creative resources but also allows us to invest in the infrastructure of our space, Sandra Reyna explained. “This will strengthen our ability to continue this work long-term, giving us the confidence to build upon the foundation we have laid over the last five years, and ensure that the crucial issues our community faces are addressed.”

The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund, Inc. is a non-profit corporation qualified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is supported by generous contributions from The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Earth Vision Institute, the John and Anne Duffy Foundation, and PhotoWings. Additional support is provided by the International Center of Photography and Synergy Communications.

Louis Desiderio
Synergy Communications, Inc.
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