The Clarence John Laughlin Award was created by the New Orleans Photo Alliance 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 grants one $5000 prize annually to a photographer whose work exhibits sustained artistic excellence and creative vision. This year’s winner will be announced on December 1.

The 2017 Clarence John Laughlin Award was juried by Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director and Curator of the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. The Griffin Museum is a nonprofit photography museum whose mission is to promote an appreciation of photographic art and a broader understanding of its visual, emotional, and social impact.

Balancing Cultures examines the shame, tolerance, and acceptance of Japanese Americans to the hysteria, racism, and economic exploitation perpetrated by the culture and the U.S. government in the 1940s.