Jerry Takigawa’s Balancing Cultures portfolio was selected by juror Paula Tognarelli to win the New Orleans Photo Alliance 2017 Clarence John Laughlin Award. This award was created to support the work of photographers who use the medium as a means of creative expression. It honors the life and work of Clarence John Laughlin (1905-1985), a New Orleans photographer best known for his surrealist images of the American South. The Clarence John Laughlin Award annually grants one $5000 prize and an exhibition in the NOPA gallery to a photographer whose work exhibits sustained artistic excellence and creative vision.