The Center, founded in 1989 in North Carolina, set up the Prize to encourage and nurture creative collaboration between documentarians and photographers. The prize is based on the acclaimed work of Dorothea Lange and Paul Taylor, who published, in 1941, An American Exodus.

In previous years, the Lange-Taylor Prize rewarded the work of photographers such as Teru Kuwayama, Donald Webber and Antonin Kratochvil among many others.

CDS has announced, however, that the competition will be suspended in 2011, "in recognition of the rapidly changing environment in which documentary artists produce their work," Alexa Dilworth, publishing director of the Center, tells BJP. She explains that CDS wanted to take the time to reflect on how best to work with upcoming artists. "We thought it was time to stop and take stock," she says. "What does collaboration - combining words and images, ‘still' photography - look like in the 21st Century. We must come up with new ways of supporting documentary artists involved in extended fieldwork projects and who are interested in producing nonfiction narratives that resonate with personal experience."

She adds: "We are busily exploring ideas for supporting documentary projects that use words and images in other ways besides stand-alone essays and still images - audio, multimedia etc - and we haven't arrived there yet."

While other CDS prizes will continue to be awarded throughout 2011, such as the Daylight/CDS Photo Awards, founded last year, the Lange-Turner Prize will undergo potentially major changes. "What we're looking to reinvent/invent, in a way that continues to honor the spirit of Lange and Taylor's important work, is a prize - or it may be prizes - for promising documentary fieldwork and narratives that represent a clear and unique vision for approaching and completing a significant project," says Dilworth.

The Center is quick to point out that, while these changes are being developed, they remain wholly engaged with the collaborative process, and see this as a necessary modernization to maintain high standards in the industry. "We want to continue to fill a niche that isn't well served, that is in keeping with the longstanding principles of CDS, and we want to take the time to carefully consider ideas, definitions and outcomes," says Dilworth.

Visit www-cds.aas.duke.edu.