Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant

Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Save our Seas Foundation
Last Updated: November 14, 2025

Summary

The Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant, supported by the Save Our Seas Foundation, invites emerging photographers to capture compelling stories about marine life and conservation. This grant aims to foster new voices and perspectives in photography, encouraging applicants to explore diverse topics related to oceans and their ecosystems. With a focus on public engagement, it seeks to raise awareness about marine conservation through impactful imagery, supporting projects that resonate with audiences globally.

Overview

Philosophy The Save Our Seas Foundation has funded almost 400 projects in over 80 countries around the globe. Each project strives for deeper understanding and more innovative solutions in marine research, conservation and education. In 2021 the foundation celebrated its 18th anniversary. With the experience and maturity we have gained during these past 18 years we look forward to the next decade as an ongoing evolutionary and refining process. We continue to grow and learn as a foundation, seeking out and supporting the best and brightest people whose innovative projects make a real and lasting impact on the health of our oceans – and ultimately for every person on the planet. In the effort to protect our oceans, the Save Our Seas Foundation funds and supports research, conservation and education projects worldwide, focusing primarily on charismatic threatened wildlife and their habitats. General Approach The Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF) is committed to supporting activities that have the capacity to make a real difference to the health of the oceans and to the survival of threatened aquatic species and habitats.With a view to achieving this aim, the Foundation has developed a policy of supporting, in particular, applicants working on exceptional projects, on remarkable species or habitats and/or in unique locations.The purpose of this policy is to support research, conservation or educational projects that are capable of attracting significant public attention and that, as a result, may genuinely increase public and government awareness of the urgent need to protect the marine environment.As part of this approach, the Foundation requires all grant holders to undertake public awareness and environmental educational activities (giving talks, issuing press releases, etc.) as part of their project.Foundation staff (including the dedicated SOSF Communications team) is available to assist grant holders in such public relations work, and grant holders are expected to collaborate with them in preparing public awareness materials. Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant We are delighted to introduce our new emerging Ocean Storytelling Grant, which will focus on photography in its inaugural year. General Approach At the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF), we have a strong history of supporting marine conservation and education projects and believe that to truly translate knowledge into effective, meaningful change we must communicate through engaging stories.While we are specifically looking for photographers who can tell conservation stories about our oceans, the call is not limited to underwater photography. Applicants should think broadly – story topics can range from the animals themselves to fisheries and to the communities whose lives are intertwined with marine life.We are particularly seeking to support early career and emerging storytellers and aim to encourage new voices with new perspectives and photographic approaches. Applicants should therefore have no more than five years of professional experience in any photography-related discipline.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Funds are allocated on an annual basis and include a day rate for a shoot lasting 3–4 weeks, logistical costs, a year of mentorship and a cash prize.Entry Requirements:The SOSF Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant is open only to emerging photographers, which means applicants must have no more than five years of professional experience in any photography-related discipline.Application must be via the SOSF grant online portalAll applicants must complete the written questionnaire as part of their application.All images entered are used only for judging purposes.Applicants must be 18 years or older.The closing date for the 2021 SOSF Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant is TBC Central European Time. All applications must have been submitted by this date.The conditions set out in the entry rules are binding.By submitting your application, you automatically agree to abide by the entry rules of the SOSF Ocean Storytelling Photography Grant.The Best of Portfolio must contain no fewer and no more than 20 images.Photo Stories must include no fewer and no more than 10 images and must conform to a relevant theme.A maximum of three photo-story images can be repeated as part of the Best of Portfolio.Digital images must meet the following specifications:Images should be 1600 pixels in width.Each image must be saved in the JPEG format with a high-quality setting.An embedded ICC profile is required. Adobe RGB or sRGB is recommended for colour images, Gamma 2.2 for black and white. No CMYK.All required image information (creation date, location, detailed caption) must be included in the metadata of the image files.Applicants are expected to enter images that are an accurate representation of the natural world. Adding or removing objects, such as animals or parts of animals, plants, people etc., is not allowed.Digital adjustments including tone and contrast, burning, dodging, cropping, sharpening, noise reduction and cleaning of sensor dust spots are permitted as long as they comply with the grant’s principles of not deceiving the viewer or misrepresenting the reality of nature.Applicants must not do anything to kill, injure or distress any fauna or flora or destroy their habitat in an attempt to capture an image.Only single-frame images will be accepted. Composite and multiple-exposure images will not be accepted.Images with added borders, backgrounds or other effects will not be accepted.The jury is the ultimate arbiter of the standards above and may at its discretion request the original, un-retouched RAW file as recorded by the camera.By submitting an application, the applicant grants the SOSF the right to share the submitted portfolios and photo stories on the SOSF website and SOSF social media if they are selected as a finalist. Any visuals used will be credited to the applicant and the copyright will remain with the applicant. The applicant also retains the full and exclusive commercial rights.The Foundation promotes local projects by local people.SOSF funds project leaders and projects.All equipment funded remains the property of the NGO or institution.The costs of short-term employees or the short-term extra costs of an individual’s participation in a project may be eligible, if justified.

Ineligibility

Employees of SOSF and anyone connected with the administration of the competition are not eligible to apply for this grant.If an applicant has any other current SOSF grant, they cannot apply for a new grant.The Foundation does not support publication-associated costs through regular funding. The Foundation does not support the attendance of conferences in allocated funding as it is already providing Student Travel Grants to the AES, the EEA, the OCS and Sharks International. The Foundation does not support satellite tags in SOSF Small Grants.The Foundation will not consider applications in which more than 10% of requested funding is allocated to travel expenses. The Foundation is not able to pay overheads, administration and handling fees to large commercial or non-commercial, governmental or non-governmental institutions or organizations (such as Universities or Non-Governmental Organizations).