James Alan Cox Student Photojournalism Scholarships
Scholarship Sponsored by James Alan Cox Foundation
Overview
Description: The James Alan Cox Foundation for Student Photojournalists was created to support student photographers at the high school and college levels. The foundation provides financial assistance for equipment and scholarships for college and technical school classes. Its mission is to expand educational and developmental opportunities for students who demonstrate interest, talent and financial need. The program emphasizes practical, story-driven photojournalism rather than art photography.
- Founded to support student photojournalists with financial aid and equipment.
- Targets high school, college, technical school and graduate students.
- Prioritizes work that tells a story and serves the public record.
Awards
The program distributes scholarships and equipment awards across distinct categories for high school, college/technical school and graduate students. Scholarship payments are made directly to the recipient’s school where specified. Awards differentiate between video and still-photography recognition, and a limited number of cameras are provided to high school students to support hands-on learning.
Award Value: Five $2,500 scholarships for college or technical school students (payable to their school)—four for video work and one for still photography; one $2,500 scholarship for a graduate student (video, payable to their school); and five Digital SLR cameras awarded to five high school students for still photography.
- Multiple $2,500 scholarships for college, technical and graduate students.
- Four college scholarships for video, one for college still photography, one graduate video scholarship.
- Five DSLRs awarded to high school students for still photography.
Eligibility and Focus
Eligibility: Awards are open to high school, college and technical school students, with a separate graduate-level video scholarship. High school applicants should submit still photographs only; video awards are reserved for college and graduate entrants. Applicants should demonstrate both talent and financial need in addition to meeting academic and submission requirements.
Focus: The foundation requires photojournalism work that “tells a story.” Acceptable work includes breaking news, sporting events, community stories, and other objective, timely subjects. The foundation explicitly discourages art-focused images (for example, glamour shots or purely aesthetic subjects) in still photography submissions.
- High school: still photography only; eligible for camera awards.
- College/technical: scholarships for both still and video (primarily video).
- Graduate: one video scholarship available.
Submission Guidelines
Entrants must submit materials that demonstrate storytelling ability and journalistic intent. Submissions should be timely, objective, and aesthetically engaging; still photography may be a single image or a series on one topic. Applicants are asked to provide supporting documents such as an essay, transcript and letters of reference as part of the evaluation process.
Submission Requirements: Include your work (still images or video as applicable), an essay explaining the work, academic transcript, and letters of reference. High school applicants should submit only still photography; college and graduate applicants may submit video where specified. Avoid submitting purely artistic subjects that do not convey a journalistic narrative.
- Provide work that clearly tells a story and reflects journalistic standards.
- Include essay, transcript and references with your visual submission.
- Follow category rules: stills for high school, video for college/graduate as indicated.