Students receive grants in memory of press photographer Axel Schütt

Three third term students have received two grants created in the memory of the late press photographer, Axel Schütt.

Stine Schjøtler, Hannah Almstrup and Esther Kofoed received two grants in the memory of press photographer Axel Schütt at the opening of a retrospective exhibition showing a selection of his images.
Photo: Kim Haugaard.

Hannah Almstrup and Esther Kofoed received one grant to work on a mutual project about abortion on the Faroe Islands. Stine Schjøtler received the other grant to work on a story about the aftermath of the forest fires on the Greek island Evia. Both grants are worth D. Kr. 4,000 and the students may use the money for their third term reportage stories.

The grant money have been collected among Axel Schütt’s friends and colleagues. Instead of buying flowers for his funeral, a couple of his friends decided to ask people for donations and wanted to spend the money to support young photojournalist students. “This would have been in the spirit of Axel”, Kim Haugaard, Axel’s former colleague and friend from Aarhus Stiftstidende says.

Portrait of Axel Schütt at the retrospective exhibition at Musikhuset, Aarhus.
Photo: Kim Haugaard.

Axel Schütt was a local press photographer covering stories for Aarhus Stiftstidende for 34 years. Throughout his whole career, Alex continued to develop his skills and he was very helpful towards his fellow photographers. He loved sharing his knowledge and experience with up-coming talents.

Axel was a single child and a bachelor, so he didn’t leave behind a family, when he suddenly passed away in December 2020. Therefore his many friends decided that collecting money for two student grants would have made Axel happy.

All third term photojournalist students have been invited to apply for the two grants by writing a project proposal and a personal motivation. The winners have been selected by Inge Lynggaard Hansen and Kim Haugaard, both photographers and friends of Axel.

The grants were announced and handed out at the opening of “Aarhus Memories” a retrospective photo exhibition showing some of Axel Schütt’s many pictures. The exhibition can be seen at Musikhuset, Aarhus till the 14th of November.