Jurors Choices

Ever wonder what goes through jurors’ mind as they’re sifting through hundreds of application? What they’re looking for in photo project? How they decide who deserves to win? Search no more.

Once a month, one of this year’s Flash Forward juror will reveal the reasons behind their choices.

Featured Photo: ©Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart, 2019 winner Female Identifying Special Interest category.

The team at Flash Forward Flash Back would love to congratulate all the winners of this year's Flash Forward Competition, and especially commend Akea Brown, Lukas Kreibig, Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart and Liam Mackenzie, winners of the Special Interest categories, respectively Race, Climate, Female Identifying and LGBTQ. As always the works submitted were impressive and inspiring, offering diverse perspectives on our world and on the uses of the photographic medium.

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How to Catch the Eyes of the 2019 Jurors

Published January 11, 2019

Personal. Diverse. Challenging. Thoughtful. Thought-provoking. Honest. Surprising. Raw. These are but a few of the qualities that the 2019 Flash Forward jurors are looking for in winning submissions. Read what a few of them are excited about seeing this year.

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Advanced Dancers

Photos by Tori Ferenc, 2018 Flash Forward Winner
Published January 3, 2019

The benefits of entering competitions can be beyond the surface. It is a process that can be tedious and ultimately disheartening for many artists, but it is not without its rewards.

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Lag BaOmer from Kiryas Joel by Jackson Krule

Kiryas Joel

Photos by Jackson Krule, 2018 Flash Forward Winner
Published November 7, 2018

Ahead of a journey abroad, Dan Gaba, photo editor at the Wall Street Journal and 2018 Flash Forward juror, reflects on what he learned during a road trip more than a decade ago and what the photos of Jackson Krule, one of this year's winners, reminded him to do.

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© Alana Paterson

Title IX

Photos by Alana Paterson, 2018 Flash Forward Winner
Published October 18, 2018

Journalism has a reputation of focusing on the negative. War, death, destruction, poverty…the list is endless. Photojournalism specifically is often accused of contributing to compassion fatigue. While I do not believe our industry should shield the public from the tragedies of the world, I do find merit in work that focuses on positive stories as well.

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Urban Legend

Photos by Lawrence Sumulong, 2018 Flash Forward Runner-up
Published September 13, 2018

In his series "Urban Legend", Lawrence Sumulong is not chasing the supernatural, but rather evoking the past of the Manila Film Centre, an imposing brutalist building in the Philippines' capital, and by the same token expounding the country's history.

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Prospect Graham of The Katz motorcycle club, Brooklyn, 2014.

Ezy Ryders

Photos by Cate Dingley, 2018 Flash Forward Winner
Published August 11, 2018

It can be challenging to find an under-represented aspect of a widely photographed topic. In photojournalism, there exist many tropes that photo editors see pitched time and again, from boxers to barber shops.

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Portrait of Samuel Froggatt

Masc

Interrogating masculinity through portraiture

Photos by Craig Waddell, 2018 Flash Forward Winner
Published July 16, 2018

If there is one genre of photography I see misused more than any other, it is portraiture. But not in the case of Craig Waddell's series “Masc”.

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Masha, 20 years old. First-time offender, sentenced to 6 years.

Section / Faces

Showing the Impacts of Institutionalisation

Photos by Elena Anosova, Flash Forward 2018 Winner
Published June 21, 2018

The work entered in Flash Forward this year spanned genres beyond the traditional reportage and fine art. Some of the projects existed in the space between the two. Having grown up in a house of artists and starting my secondary education in fine art but finishing in photojournalism, I find this space particularly interesting.

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From

In Our Own Hands

Photos by Lorena Endara, Mikael Owunna and Leila Fatemi, 2018 Flash Forward Contestants
Published May 31, 2018

Historically, photography has held many faculties, as its inception is rooted in technological experimentation. Photography has covered a wide gamut, used as a tool of indoctrination, but also as a format of empowerment.

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Maysa prays before her turn on stage during the final contest for Young Miss Sao Paulo 2015. Sao Paulo, Brazil. January 21, 2015.

Maysa

Racial Tension and Coming of Age

Photos by Luisa Dörr, Flash Forward 2018 Winner
Published May 10, 2018

Photography attracts the curious. Photographers harness this curiosity to travel outside of what they know to learn about the world, whether it be physically leaving their homes to tell stories in a new place or delving into unknown aspects of their own countries. As a news photo editor who has worked the gamut of local to international news, I see the value in both types of coverage.

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