2018 ASC Student Heritage Awards Open for Entry

Educators are encouraged to nominate exceptional work by their eligible cinematography students. This year’s two narrative awards are named in honor of ASC greats Gerald Hirschfeld and Sol Negrin. The documentary award honors Haskell Wexler, ASC.

Deadline for entry is May 11.

The American Society of Cinematographers is pleased to invite educators to recommend eligible students for consideration in the 2018 ASC Student Heritage Awards competition. These awards are designed to inspire the next generation of cinematographers and to help them pursue their dreams. They also celebrate the memory of the Society’s most extraordinary members. Each year, the ASC Student Heritage Awards are re-named in honor of esteemed ASC members. (Details on the 2017 awards and winners here.)

Eligible students must be in undergraduate or graduate school or have graduated within the past year (please see Rules of Entry within each entry form linked below). A jury of ASC members will choose the winners. Nominations will be announced on September 3, 2018 and the winners will be revealed at the ASC Student Heritage Award celebration on Saturday, October 13, 2018 at the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood.

The Student Awards committee chair is Isidore Mankofsky, ASC. The co-chair is David Darby, ASC.

This year’s ASC Student Undergraduate Award is named in honor of Gerald Hirschfeld, ASC. In the 1950s, Hirschfeld was one of the busiest cameraman in New York City. Among his crew were future ASC greats Owen Roizman and Gordon Willis. Hirschfeld's reputation for being a precise, exacting perfectionist led to his first major feature assignment, shooting the Cold War drama Fail-Safe for director Sidney Lumet. He would go on to shoot some 40 feature films, including The Incident, Goodbye Columbus, Cotton Comes to Harlem, Diary of a Mad Housewife, Young Frankenstein, Two Minute Warning, The World’s Greatest Lover, The Bell Jar, Neighbors, My Favorite Year and To Be or Not to Be. A natural educator, Hirschfeld penned numerous stories for American Cinematographer magazine, and later wrote the in-depth instructionals Image Control: Motion Picture and Video Camera Filters and Lab Techniques and The Hand Exposure Meter Book (with co-author Bob Shell). In 2007, Hirschfeld was honored with the ASC Presidents Award. (Entry form here.) 

The ASC Student Graduate Award honors Sol Negrin, ASC. He was nominated for five Emmy Awards — three for his work on the detective drama Kojak, one for the telefilm The Last Tenant, and one for an episode of the series Baker’s Dozen. His cinematography in television commercials earned four Clio Awards. Negrin often shared his wealth of experience and expertise with students and aspiring filmmakersthrough mentorships, seminars, demonstrations and speaking engagements. In 2010, he was honored by the ASC with the Presidents Award,in recognition of not only his expertise behind the camera, but for being an ambassador of the art and craft of cinematography. (Entry form here.)

The ASC’s Student Documentary Award is named for Haskell Wexler, ASC. He won Academy Awards in 1966 for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? And in 1976 for Bound for Glory. He received additional nominations for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (shared with Bill Butler, ASC), Matewan and Blaze. In 1969, Wexler wrote, directed and shot Medium Cool, which is studied by film students worldwide for its breakthrough cinéma vérité style. He began his career shooting documentaries and was a passionate non-fiction filmmaker throughout his life. He was also an active member of the ASC Board of Governors for many years. In 1992, Wexler was honored with the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award. (Entry form here.)

The deadline for entries is noon,
Tuesday, May 11, 2018.  

If you have any questions, please contact Delphine Figueras at 323-969-4333 or email [email protected].