The Alexia Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2012 Alexia Foundation competition first place student winner will receive an internship at MediaStorm, an award-winning Brooklyn-based multimedia production house that specializes in working with some of the world’s top photojournalists, visual storytellers, interactive designers and global organizations.

As part of the grand prize, the student winner will receive a $15,000 grant to fund the internship. In addition, the student will also get a grant of $1,000 to complete the proposed visual story that earned the prize. Finally, an additional $500 will be awarded to the sponsoring academic institution. The second place student winner will receive a scholarship to a Momenta Photo Workshop.

The first place student will be given the opportunity to develop his or her multimedia story-telling skills as a part of a team that has produced EMMY-winning visual journalism for media companies since its inception in 2005, and that regularly conducts training on multimedia storytelling and creating successful digital business models via workshops and lectures around the world. The internship is designed to help equip the winning student to contribute visual storytelling that helps promote the Alexia Foundation’s goal of stories that act as a voice against social injustice and as a catalyst for change to address the world’s most-pressing problems.

MediaStorm is a strategically focused digital media company that combines personnel with backgrounds in photography, broadcasting, design, journalism, and information technology. The company was founded by Brian Storm, the first director of multimedia at MSNBC, and later the vice president of News, Multimedia, and Assignment Services for Corbis, a digital media agency founded and owned by Bill Gates.

Momenta Workshops offer the opportunity to build documentary photography skills covering communities in the United States and internationally across the globe. The aim of Momenta is to create an international network of like-minded visual journalists who use their craft to tell human stories and address issues that contribute to positive social change. The Momenta organization was founded by Seth Butler and John Christopher Anderson and its workshops are led by Jamie Rose, a graduate of the Newhouse photography program.

To learn more about The Alexia Foundation 2012 Student Competition, click here.