Aperture Portfolio Prize 2008

Aperture Foundation hosts the Aperture Portfolio Prize, an international photography competition. The purpose of the prize is to identify trends in contemporary photography and bring selected artists to a wide audience.

First prize is $2,500. The first-prize winner and three runners-up will be featured on Aperture's website for approximately one year and announced in Aperture's e-newsletter. The entry deadline is Friday, July 11, 2008, at midnight MDT. The entry period opens on Thursday, May 1, 2008. All entrants will be contacted by November 1, 2008, with final decisions made by December 1, 2008.

To be eligible, entrants must be current, paid subscribers of Aperture magazine. The $25 entry fee is payable by credit card during the online entry process. Submissions must include fifteen images with title/caption information, a resume/CV as a Word file or PDF, and a statement of up to 250 words (or up to 2,000 characters) about the work. If the entry is intended as a book project, note this at the top of the statement. Submissions should come directly from artists, not from galleries or representatives. Artists may submit up to two separate portfolios of 15 images each, with a separate $25 entry fee and CaFE registration profile required for each submission. Judging criteria include whether the work is new (created in the last five years), whether a theme or topic is carried throughout the portfolio consistently, compositional strength and use of color or tone, technical and presentation choices, and whether the body of work takes an innovative or unique approach to the subject matter.