Dornith Doherty Receives the 2025 Insight Award from the Society for Photographic Education

The National Board of the Society for Photographic Education has selected Dornith Doherty, UNT Distinguished Research Professor of Studio Art: Photography, for the 2025 SPE Insight Award. Doherty will be honored at the SPE’s 62nd Annual Conference, titled Adaptation, in Reno, Nevada, from March 6–8, 2025.

Meggan Gould, chair of the SPE Awards and Recognition Committee, highlighted Doherty’s substantial contributions to photographic education and her impact on the SPE community.

The SPE Insight Award, created by the SPE National Board of Directors, recognizes individuals who have achieved notable distinction in photographic education. Recipients demonstrate excellence through:

• Innovative teaching
• Sustained mentoring of colleagues or students
• Significant contributions to the technical, critical, pedagogical, or visual aspects of photography
• Extensive exhibition or publication of their work
• A lasting presence within the field

Doherty’s creative research has received support from organizations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Japan Foundation. She earned a B.A., cum laude, from Rice University and an M.F.A. from Yale University. Her work has been widely exhibited in the United States and internationally.

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the SPE is a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting a deeper understanding of photography in all its forms. Through its programs and services, SPE advances the practice, teaching, scholarship, and critical analysis of photography.

Image: Dornith Doherty faces forward and smiles with a camera on her right. She wears a gray shirt and glasses and has short, wavy hair.