Selected Awards

Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in Photography 2015, 2009, 2006

Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer's Fellowship 1997 (only Ohioan ever awarded the Siskind Fellowship; selected from 800 international applicants)

Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in Photography 2001, 1997, 1995, 1987, 1981

Governor’s Award for the Arts in Ohio, honoring an individual artist whose work has made a significant impact on his discipline 2011

Greater Columbus (Ohio) Arts Council Individual Artist's Fellowship in Photography 2007, 1998 

Nominated for the Excellence in Teaching Award, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, New Mexico 2003

Finalist for the Eliot Porter Fellowship 2003

Picture Editor (with author Jonathan Green) for American Photography: A Critical History, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., recipient of the 1984 Nikon Book of the Year Award

Finalist for the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1984

Finalist for the Outstanding Teaching Award of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1983

The National Foundation for Jewish Culture awarded a grant to The Ohio State University Gallery of Fine Art to travel nationally James Friedman's exhibit of photographs 12 Nazi Concentration Camps 1982