Call for entries: The annual Windland Smith Rice International Awards competition deadline is just days away! Enter your best nature photography before May 2, 2011 for a chance to exhibit your work at the Smithsonian.

The Nature’s Best Photography concept began with simple yet dynamic goals: to celebrate the beauty and diversity of nature through the art of photography, and to use this far-reaching medium as a creative tool for encouraging greater public interest in outdoor enjoyment and conservation stewardship.

The annual Windland Smith Rice International Awards program evolved from this ambitious mission to become one of the most highly-respected and visually compelling nature photography competitions in the world. More than 25,000 entries are received and judged each year in the International Awards.

Posted on February 23, 2011
Deadline: June 1, 2011

The Media, Culture, and Special Initiatives program at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is accepting proposals for its 2011 documentary film grants program.

The program seeks to fund documentary film projects that address the significant social challenges of our time or explore important but under-reported topics. Domestic and international topics are welcome; preference will be given to projects that align with one of MacArthur’s grantmaking areas. Support will be provided primarily for production and post-production activities (although some of the funds may be used for pre-production or outreach activities). Documentary stories that will be told both in film and a second medium are encouraged.

Grants will be made to experienced filmmakers based in the United States. Projects funded by the foundation are expected to reach a national U.S. television broadcast audience.

The Foundation does not accept proposals for the following: documentaries that are biographical, historical, or personal in nature; short, experimental, or fictional films; films by youth or first-time filmmakers; or films intended to feature a single organization for promotional purposes.

The foundation funds only eight to twelve documentary film projects a year. The typical MacArthur documentary film grant is between $100,000 and $200,000.

Proposals for 2011 documentary film grants will be accepted on an ongoing basis until June 1, 2011. Decisions will be announced in September 2011.

Visit the MacArthur Foundation Web site for complete program guidelines and application procedures.

It’s time to begin gathering your best work over the past year to enter in the 27th Annual Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition, sponsored by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation.

All information and entry materials are posted online at satwf.com. SATW has made a number of changes this year, including more categories for online work. Sign up here to receive updates by email. Entries must be postmarked by April 1.

Waves and weather, feeding and breeding, tropical and temperate reefs, seashores and sunken vessels … if you have a great ocean photo, check out the Ocean Views contest. Entries are due by December 20; top prize is a one-week dive trip.

Thanks to Karen Misuraca for forwarding this information:

It’s that time of year to submit your best tourism-oriented stories and photos published on Canada in 2010. The 14th annual Northern Lights Awards for Excellence in Travel Journalism and Photography is open to magazines, newspapers, independent writers, photographers and Internet reporters in North America, published in either French or English outlets. Entries for the competition must be postmarked by February 15, 2011. The complete rules and entry form are available online.

All winners in the newspaper, magazine, internet and photography categories will be presented with cool gear, for an authentic sub-Arctic experience provided by Travel Manitoba. Prizes for first, second and third place winners in both an independent writers (newspapers) category and independent writers (magazines) category will be USD $750, $500 and $350 respectively.
Awards will be judged by the Missouri School of Journalism and presented by the Canadian Tourism Commission on April 5, 2011 during Canada Media Marketplace in New York, New York. The annual awards program is a Canadian Tourism Commission initiative.

Questions? Please contact:

Susan Baumgartner
Northern Lights Media Awards,
PMB 171, 208 East 51st Street,
New York, NY 10022.
Tel: 212-355-6025
e-mail: northernlights@canadamediamarket.org

The Solas Awards are an annual competition to find the best writing being done about the world today. The Travelers’ Tales editors will choose winners in 21 categories ranging from adventure to humor, from destination to memoir, and everything in between. The grand prize category has cash awards of $1,000, $750, and $500; all other category winners receive a certificate and a copy of the most recent edition of  THE BEST TRAVEL WRITING or THE BEST WOMEN’S TRAVEL WRITING. Plus, winners may be published in Travelers’ Tales books. Check out BestTravelWriting.com for details.

From the American Society of Media Photographers: PhotoPhilanthropy promotes and connects photographers with non-profit organizations around the world to tell the stories that drive action for social change. The PhotoPhilanthropy website provides a space for photographers, photo enthusiasts and non-profits to come together for collaboration, inspiration, and action.

Each photographer whose work is accepted receives a page on our website and exposure to a growing audience of concerned and committed global citizens.

The PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Award identifies outstanding work done by photographers in collaboration with non-profit organizations worldwide and awards a $15,000 prize in the professional category and a $2000 prize in the amateur category. Contest entrants are invited to submit a photo essay that tells the story of a non-profit organization and its work.

In their first year, photographers from 63 different countries submitted work. The first 100 entries receive a free Blurb book coupon to produce a book of non-profit work.

The 2010 submissions are now open. Submission guidelines are here. Deadline is October 1st.

Photo: Creative Learning

Here’s an organization that’s working to promote peace by supporting American volunteerism in mostly-Muslim parts of the world. That’s a cause worth supporting!

And they have  announced an essay contest and a video contest. If I had done anything that qualified, I’d definitely enter this contest. The prizes are real ($2,000 for the 1st place video; $1,000 for the first place essay) and my guess is that there won’t be a huge number of competing entries. Deadline is July 15, 2010.

“America’s Unofficial Ambassadors

Did you teach English to villagers in Morocco, deliver disaster relief in Indonesia, or train women candidates to run for election in Kuwait?

Were you a medical volunteer in Uzbekistan, an art teacher in Afghanistan, or a mediation trainer in Niger?

Did you coach a basketball camp in Mali or run a photography workshop in Jordan?

If you are an American who worked or volunteered in the fields of education, unmet human needs, justice and rights, or creative expression in a Muslim majority country in Africa, the Middle East, or Asia please take a few minutes to join our Community of America’s Unofficial Ambassadors. Read more

We are excited to announce our first annual video and essay contests, with prizes that include cash awards and publication! The contests run along the themes of the impact of service, representing America, and remarkable local partners. The deadline for entry is July 15. Please click here for full details.”

More about AUA:

“AUA is based upon the premise that traditional diplomatic efforts and official development assistance are not sufficient to combat the root causes of the major challenges that face the United States and the Muslim World, ranging from failing states and the spread of extremist ideologies to the harmful stereotypes of the “other” that exist on a popular level.

“In addition to top down governmental approaches, a key to building and sustaining peace between America and the Muslim World are efforts that foster people-to-people relationships and help to alleviate human development challenges at the grassroots level where they receive the least dedicated resources. There is untapped potential among American citizens to support the initiatives of local leaders throughout the Muslim World with their volunteer service, technical expertise, and resources. At the same time, such high impact service dissipates negative stereotypes between Americans and Muslims and improves relations between the United States and the Muslim World.”

AUA is a program of the Washington, DC-based non-profit Creative Learning, which is another organization that looks like it’s worth checking out.

REMINDER: Are your entries ready for the 26th Annual SATW Foundation Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition? The deadline is approaching (April 1), and details are posted on the SATW website.

The Mikel Essery Travel Writing Contest has an interesting story; check out their website. And here’s an open invitation for the travel writing contest. Get your submission in before May 1st.

“We are sending you this sincere invitation to take a look and contribute to the difussion of the Second Mikel Essery Travel Writing Contest 2010 that we want to turn into a cozy, hospitable and truthful place for writers and travelers.

“So far we have successfully completed the first, 2009 edition, and we have received words of encouragement from most of the participants. The winner in this first edition has been the Santa Fe based writer JANN HUIZENGA with the piece KEEPER OF THE KEYS, who has won a 16 day Trip to Costa Rica. Other prizes, including weekends at hotels, sports equipment, subscriptions and books were also given. We have been present in some of the best newspapers or radios in the Basque Country and in other parts of Spain, especially in Barcelone or Madrid. Moreover, we have published a book, MAMBO POA Mikel Essery Travel Writing Compilation with a selection of the best 24 stories in different languages – Basque, Spanish, Catalá and English which included delightful and strong pieces written by authors from all over the world.

“We are based in Donostia – San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, Northern Spain. If you want to know the guidelines for next edition, starting on Jan 1st 2010 till May 1st , please be welcomed to visit our web page. Pieces shouldn’t be longer than 6,000 words.

“We look for stories that starting from the life experience of each storyteller could bring us closer to other social, cultural, natural and human world issues; stories that could surprise us with their depth and promote empathy with the other; stories from which we could learn something, being, therefore, an invitation to travel, understood as a searching path or meeting ground.”

More info (in English) about the travel writing competition is here. Send entries before May 1, 2010, to: concurso@mikelmunduan.net