PPA Photo Award 2024: Excellence in Contemporary Photography

Pasadena Photography Arts announces an open call for the PPA Photo Award 2024: Excellence in Contemporary Photography (Open Theme). This annual award recognizes and promotes both emerging and professional photographers with residence in the United States who exemplify excellence in contemporary photography. In addition to the winning recipient, five applicants will be shortlisted. The deadline to submit is April 7, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. MDT, with results announced August 26, 2024.

Photographers are invited to submit cohesive bodies of work between 10-20 images with an accompanying statement. Acceptable formats include analogue, digital, portrait, abstract, mixed-media, documentary, street photography, conceptual, still-life photography, landscape, alternative photography, cell phone, and AI. Images must be submitted digitally in .jpg format, in sRGB color space, 1200 pixels on the long side, 72 ppi, and no larger than 5 MB each. Applicants must also provide a project description (up to 2,000 characters), biography (up to 2,000 characters), and optionally a PDF artist CV and website link. The entry fee is $42 (non-refundable), and applicants may submit up to 2 projects per award cycle, with each project requiring a separate entry fee.

Eligibility requires artists to be 18 years or older and legal residents with a primary address and bank account in the United States. Projects must not have been previously shown in their entirety in a gallery setting, published, or won another award/competition. Projects with 10 or more photographs shown in a gallery or published on another organization's website are not eligible; however, projects published in their entirety on the artist's website or social media are eligible. The jury panel includes Pasadena Photography Arts Advisors and guest juror Rose Shoshana of Rose Gallery in Santa Monica. Entries will be judged on creativity, originality, quality, and responsiveness to the call. The prize includes a $2,000 cash award, Lenscratch feature, published interview on the PPA website, and a virtual hosted artist talk. The award consists of exclusively online publications and exposure; winning artists do not need to ship work.