Hasselblad Foundation

After the death of Victor Hasselblad in August 1978 it was announced by the Swedish government that he had bequeathed part of his fortune "to establish awards similar to Nobel prizes," with the Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation "awarding prizes of around three million Swedish crowns ($700,000) once a year, or twice this sum every two years, to scientists in the natural sciences."

On Hassner's initiative the Center commenced a collection with a concentration on the work of Nordic photographers, among them Sune Jonsson, Christer Strömholm, Adriana Lestido, Pal-Nils Nilsson.

[5] The Foundation also presents an annual international award in photography[6] to “a photographer recognised for major achievements”,[7] exhibiting their work at the Center and publishing monographs on each.

The first prize, 100,000 Swedish Kronor and a gold medal, was awarded in November 1980 to Lennart Nilsson for his imagery of medicine and nature.

[8] Other winners included Ernst Haas, Edouard Boubat, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Robert Häusser, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Hiroshi Hamaya, William Klein, Sebastiao Salgado, Susan Meiselas, and Boris Mikhailov.