Students of the Master's in Visual Ethnography at Leiden University are part of a remarkable legacy that goes back many decades and continues to grow and flourish. The Master's in Visual Ethnography has supported many talented individuals to produce truly inspiring films and multimodal projects. Recognising the value of these projects as innovative anthropological research, the CADS Institute initiates the Metje Postma Fund for Visual Ethnography.

This fund is directly supported by the legacy of excellence in Visual Ethnography at Leiden University. In April 2021, Leiden University entered into an agreement with Alexander Street Press (a subsidiary of ProQuest) to distribute Leiden University Visual Ethnography student films. Supervisors and lecturers in the LUVE programme nominated more than 70 diploma films produced over the past decade. As a gesture of support, the participating alumni agreed to donate a portion of their royalties to the new Metje Postma Fund for Visual Ethnography.

To honour Metje's long-standing commitment to students specialising in visual ethnography during their Masters studies, the fund supports two annual awards: the Excellence in Visual Ethnography Thesis Prize, which recognises outstanding work by LUVE Masters students, and the Multimodal Incentive Grant for Alumni, which supports those who wish to further develop their ethnographic research using multimodal methods and results.

The prize and grant are administered by Metje Postma and Mark Westmoreland, who serve as the fund's coordinating committee.

Excellence in Visual & Multimodal Ethnography Thesis Prize

The prize will be awarded to a student whose multimodal output (film, photobook, exhibition, etc.) best reflects the merits of visual/multimodal ethnography and demonstrates the highest level of excellence among those nominated by the LUVE supervisors. The nominees will be evaluated by a three-member jury of external colleagues: Sanderien Verstappen, Ildikó Plájás, and Eddy Apples, who themselves are alumni and/or longstanding friends of the LUVE program.

Note: This prize will not evaluate the written portion of the thesis. Complete Master theses can therefore still be submitted for the yearly Speckmann prize, which is awarded for the best master’s thesis.

Procedure Excellence in Visual & Multimodal Ethnography Thesis Prize

• Each of the VE supervisors may nominate one project among their students from the past year. The supervisor should include a short statement of support with their nomination. Supervisors submit their nominations to the CADS secretariat by 1 September.
• The supervisor should notify the student that they have been nominated and ask them to submit the supporting materials to the CADS secretariat by 1 September (or as soon as possible thereafter, but no later than 10 September).
• Prize nominees should submit the following supporting materials: multimodal project (downloadable link), abstract/blurb about the project (max 200 words), and a bio (100 words).
• The CADS Secretariat forwards the nominees to the coordination committee, which is responsible for forwarding the materials to the jury.
• The jury will review the nominated projects and write a brief report on the merits of the winning works. The jury submits their report to the coordination committee by 1 October.
• Metje Postma will announce the winner and read aloud the jury’s report at the award ceremony.
• The winner receives prize money of € 250.
• The winner is announced on CADS social media.

Multimodal Incentive Grant for Alumni

This grant will provide opportunities for alumni to develop a new multimodal and/or visual ethnography research project that builds on the education that they received during their master’s education at CADS. Alumni from the previous three years are eligible to apply for funding. The deadline for submission will also be 1 September. The grant applications will be evaluated by the coordination committee, which selects a single project to support based on the merits of a short proposal. The winner receives up to €1000 in financial support and is offered a coaching trajectory with Metje Postma.

Procedure Multimodal Incentive Grant for Alumni

• Applicants submit a short proposal to the CADS Secretariat that includes:

1. Applicant name and contact information (email and phone number)
2. Working title of the project
3. Summary of the project (who, what, where, why, and how) (500 words max)
4. Planning narrative that addresses feasibility and timeline (250 words max)
5. Budget outline and how funds will be used
6. A/V materials from the project (optional): up to 5 minutes of video or sound recordings, or 10 images, or a limited combination.

• The CADS Secretariat forwards the proposals to the coordination committee, which evaluates the proposals and selects a winner.
• Metje Postma will announce the winner at the award ceremony.
• The winner is announced on CADS social media.
• Within one year of receipt, the winner of the grant submits a short report (1-page) to the CADS secretariat that accounts for the expenditure of the funds. The report is forwarded to the coordination committee and archived.

The Award ceremony

At the ceremony that will take place in 2024 on 9 October at the LUVE Fest, Metje will announce the winner of the prize and the recipient of the grant. The winners will be informed in advance and invited to the award ceremony.