The Firecracker Photographic Grant will be awarded to a woman photographer to assist the completion of a project in late 2012. The award will be open to entries this summer and will be judged by a panel of jurors that include BJP's deputy editor Diane Smyth, as well as Jessica Crombie of Save The Children, Shannon Ghannam of Reuters News Agency and Francesca Sears of Panos.

Launched by Fiona Rogers in January 2011, the Firecracker platform is dedicated to supporting European women photographers. "During my career in photography, the under-representation of women photographers struck me on several levels," says Rogers, who is also the cultural and education manager at Magnum Photos London.

"Whilst there seems to me to be an abundance of women studying photography, it would appear that a large percentage leave education and take on administrational, organisational, or nurturing roles within the visual arts," Rogers adds. "Perhaps this is just a reflection of personal experience and how my career has developed, but it would also seem to be a situation mirrored in the choices made by many of my photographic colleagues. In light of this, Firecracker was established as a way of supporting women photographers and linking them with a wider public and industry audience."

To finance the Firecracker Photographic Grant, Rogers has released a 2012 diary that features the work of 12 women photographers profiled last year on the platform. They include photographers such as Mona Simon, Dana Popa and Anastasia Taylor-Lind among many others.

To preview and buy the diary, visit the Firecracker Diary website.