2021 Alan Hagman Grant

Melissa Lyttle – Photojournalist
melissalyttle.com

Melissa Lyttle, a Washington, D.C.-based visual journalist, is the winner of the 2021 NPPF Alan Hagman Grant. She will receive $5,000 to help fund her project, “Where They Stood,” which focuses on the removal of long-standing Confederate monuments.

She began the project in 2020 to create a record of the unraveling, “a moment in time when symbols of rebellious leaders were literally knocked off their pedestals,” she said. Her project is defined by triptychs: a historic picture of the monument, a picture of the location after removal, and the monument as it exists today.

Lyttle is the founder of APhotoADay and GeekFest, a member of Women Photograph, and an International Women’s Media Foundation reporting fellow and grant recipient.  She has been an Eddie Adams Workshop faculty member for over a decade and served on the NPPA board for seven years, including two as president.

Judges statement: “Lyttle’s triptychs may speak quietly at first but together they are a powerful statement about the reckoning with the racism she hopes to capture with this project.  Brought to fruition, the judges envision a book or museum exhibit as a means of amplifying the work, along with traditional outlets in newspapers or magazines.  This is an important topic and her unique approach toward telling it will help assure that this piece will endure for quite some time.”

The Hagman Grant is named for the late Los Angeles Times photo editor, Alan Hagman who served as a mentor to many photojournalists throughout his career. Alan’s family and friends funded the grant to support work reflecting Alan’s ideals and love of photojournalism.

A life-size statue of an unknown Confederate soldier was toppled from its base, beheaded, and spray painted by protestors at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, Maryland. It was discovered on the morning of June 30, 2020, when cemetery workers showed up for work. The cemetery superintendent says it will likely not be repaired. Its bare plinth remains in the cemetery, but the soldier has come to rest underneath a tarp in a shed used by the grounds crew.

2020 Alan Hagman Grant

Gabriel Scarlett

Goals of the Hagman Project
Scarlett is a four-time NPPF scholarship winner. His grant proposal grew out of his internship with National Geographic on assignment in the South Pacific. He was compelled to begin researching stories of climate change and its effect on oceans around the world. This trip marked his first experience with underwater photography and his first time witnessing relatively untouched coral reefs in the Phoenix Islands. He is completing his undergraduate degree at Western Kentucky University.

With additional support from the National Geographic Society, Gabriel will use the Alan Hagman Grant to document the effects of climate change on the Florida Reef Tract. A focus will be on scientific coral restoration efforts and sustainable solutions for the future of the ecosystem.

“My hope is to one day cover the vast topic of climate change and humanity’s relationship with the natural world for publications like National Geographic, and this project is a step in that direction. It is true that many of the most important and overlooked stories are sitting in our own backyards, in this case in Florida. Yet they still have much to offer to the global discourse on climate change and ways science is being used to fight back,” wrote Scarlett.

Gabriel Scarlett – Photojournalist
www. gabrielscarlett. com

Education
Western Kentucky University
Interdisciplinary Studies (Photojournalism, Arabic, Emergency Medicine)
Nationally Registered EMT

Experience
National Geographic Magazine – Summer Photo Internship – 2019
Los Angeles Times – Summer Photo Internship – 2018
The Denver Post – Summer Photo Internship – 2017
Philmont Boy Scout Ranch – Summer Photo Internship – 2016
Eddie Adams Workshop – Attendee – 2019
New York Times Portfolio Review – Attendee – 2018
WKU Emergency Medicine Course – EMT-Basic Certification – 2019
Northern Short Course – Attendee 2016, ’18 – Volunteer ’17
Mountain Workshops – Attendee 2016 – Volunteer 2015, ’17
Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar – Attendee 2015, ’16, ’17, Workshop Speaker ’19

Skills
Image Editing – Adobe Lightroom, Photo Mechanic, captioning/filing remotely via hotspot or satellite
Video Production – Lit two-camera interviews, off-camera audio recording, editing with Adobe Premiere
Practical – Certified in First Aid, CPR/AED, Basic Life Support, rock climbing/repelling, own and operate a DJI Mavic 2 Pro

Grants & Scholarships
Alexia Foundation – Student Grant Award of Excellence
Reuters Projects Grant – Storytelling Grant Recipient
Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar – Dave Martin Student Projects Grant
WKU Journalism Department – Student Projects Grants – 2016, ’17
National Press Photographers Foundation – Jimi Lott Scholarship, C. Thomas Hardin and Mary C. Hardin Documentary Scholarship, Bob Baxter Scholarship, Col. William Lookadoo CPOYi Scholarship
Northern Short Course – Michel du Cille Memorial Scholarship
WKU Photojournalism Dept. – Kodak Scholarship, George Tames Scholarship, David Cooper Scholarship
James Alan Cox Foundation – Photojournalism Scholarship
Mountain Workshops – Jon Woods Scholarship
Western Kentucky University – Full-Ride Scholarship as a National Merit Finalist

Honors
Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar – Featured Workshop Speaker on Long-form Storytelling
2020 PDN’s 30: New and Emerging Photographers to Watch – Nominated (currently being judged)
74th College Photographer of the Year – Bronze in Int. Picture Story, Multimedia Team
73rd College Photographer of the Year – Gold Portfolio, awards in General News, Feature
72nd College Photographer of the Year – AoE Portfolio, award in Portrait, Documentary
71st College Photographer of the Year – Award of Excellence in Feature
NPPA – Best of Photojournalism – Emerging Vision Portfolio Winner
Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar – Student Photographer of the Year – 2017, ’18
Kentucky News Photographers Association – Student Photographer of the Year – 2018, ’19
Kentucky News Photographers Association – Ed Reinke Best In Show Award – 2017
2019 Hearst Awards – 1st Place in Photo I, 1st Place & 3rd Place in Team Multimedia
— Finalist at the National Championship in San Francisco
2018 Hearst Awards – 1st Place Multimedia Team
—3rd Place National Championship in San Francisco
2017 Hearst Awards – 2nd Place in Photo I, 2nd Place Multimedia Enterprise
—2nd Place National Championship in San Francisco
The GroundTruth Project – Emerging Photographer Feature
News Photographer Magazine – Photographer Interview & FeatureLess…