Thank you to everyone who submitted work to the Martin Parr Foundation Bursary 2025.
This photographic bursary, co-funded by Derek Manuel for 2025, is to help two early career photographers each bring an ongoing project to completion. The panel spent a lot of time reviewing the submissions and the quality of work was exceptional. After much discussion, the judging panel has selected Lucy Werrett for the project Fast and Fusion, and Danny Jackson for the project Orthodox. Lucy and Danny will each receive £2,500 plus mentorship to help with the development and resolution of the project.
What stood out to us in reviewing the projects is the range of important, personal, and ambitious work being made. With this in mind we have added a third highly commended award of £1,000 plus mentorship. The recipient of the highly commended award is Ashley Bourne for the project Black Country.
In return for the awards each recipient will gift two prints from the completed works to the MPF collection in APR 2026.
Thank you to our selection panel for the time and care spent reviewing the submissions –
Kavi Pujara, photographer and previous Martin Parr Foundation Bursary recipient
Sara Rumens, Features Picture Editor at The Times
Derek Manuel, co-funder of the 2025 Martin Parr Foundation Bursary
Martin Parr, photographer and founder of Martin Parr Foundation
From Fast and Fusion © Lucy Werrett
Lucy Werrett’s Fast and Fusion highlights young, empowered women and the transformative power of dance in the suburban South West. Blending staged and candid moments, it explores camaraderie, identity, community, adolescence, and girlhood. For Lucy, Fast and Fusion is also a personal journey transforming adversity into meaningful experience.
From Orthodox © Danny Jackson
Danny Jackson’s Orthodox (working title) explores the day to day life of the Hasidic Jewish community on Canvey Island. In search of a new life members of the Hasidic Jewish community started relocating to Canvey Island in 2017; today over 125 families have moved.
Danny works closely with the community photographing family life, community events and religious ceremonies, from Torah scroll inaugurations to Purim.
Eric Ashton, Amblecote Cottage, Brierley Hill. From Black Country © Ashley Bourne
Ashley Bourne’s Black Country is a project through which he is reconnecting with his homeland, documenting the grit, resilience, and quiet beauty that define this historically rich region. Blending documentary and personal storytelling, Ashley touches on the deep ties between place and identity, how regional heritage shapes collective memory, and the way a shared history continues to bind the Black Country’s people together.