APA NY: 5th Annual Exhibition & Competition - Call for Entries

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Photo by Tal Shpantzer

Show Your Finest Work

APA New York invites all photographers to participate in our 5th Annual Photography Competition

• This one-week, open-gallery event, to be held February 2-7, 2027, will give each photographic artist a chance to exhibit their work at the Soho Photo Gallery located in the Chelsea district of NYC.
• What type of photos should you submit? All kinds! You can submit personal work or assignment work; commercial or fine art; reportage, fashion, street photography, still life, landscape, macro or portraits; fantasy or reality; digital or old-school alternative processes; color or black & white; animal, vegetable or mineral; you name it (including any photographic genre we forgot to mention). If you think it's a great photo, we want to see it!
• Photos will be featured on the gallery walls at this special event.
• The promotional effort for this event will include: Features on the APA website, social media exposure, a fully illustrated show catalogue, and an Opening Reception at the gallery to bring the industry professionals who buy photographs and hire photographers to see the exhibition.

Contact us if you have any questions.

Meet the Curator: Elizabeth Renstrom

Elizabeth Renstrom is a New York–based photo editor, curator and photographer whose work explores nostalgia, femininity, consumer culture, and the ways images shape identity. She previously served as Senior Photo Editor at The New Yorker and has held editorial positions at VICE, Marie Claire, and TIME.

Renstrom has served as a juror and portfolio reviewer for LensCulture, the Lucie Photo Book Awards, APA-Los Angeles, Red Hook Labs New Talent, Photoville, Belfast Photo Festival, and the Daylight Photo Book Awards. She has taught at Parsons School of Design and the International Center of Photography.

Juror Selection

• A total of 80 photos will be selected.
• Image files names are not seen by the juror. Once submitted they are assigned an arbitrary ID for the “blind” judging.
• The juror/curator for this competition may select all or any part of Series Entries
• One photographer can not have more than five images selected in the show.

About the Gallery

Soho Photo Gallery was founded in 1971 by a group of New York Times photojournalists and avant-garde photographers, as a co-op gallery, which it remains to this day. It is New York City’s longest-running co-op gallery. Now located in the Chelsea district of Manhattan.

Entry Fees

Single Image Entry:

• APA Members: $25 per image
• Non-Members: $50 per image

Series Entry (a series of 2 to 4 images):

• APA Members: $25 for each image
• Non-Members: $50 for each image

The competition is open to all members of APA nationwide. If you are not a member of APA and would like to join, please visit our Join page for more information. There are five membership levels (starting at just $50), so there is bound to be one just right for your needs.

Submission Guidelines

1. Only digital images are accepted through our online submission process. The original image does not need to be digital in origin, it must only be submitted in digital form for judging purposes.
2. Each entry is one photograph
3. There is no date restriction on when the entry image was created.
4. A series is defined by photos that are part of the same story or body of work.
5. If the photo was selected in a previous APA NY annual exhibition, it will not be considered this year
6. Submissions created using AI generated prompts are not considered "photography" for this contest and will not be included.
7. If you have trouble uploading, your file sizes may be too large

Upload Guidelines

1. All files must be jpegs with a file size limit of 2MB.
2. Image size 1800 pixels on the long side.
3. No watermarks on your photos
4. Name your image files with your name (the juror does not see the file names but your name helps us locate your photos)
5. Do not use special characters in your file name ©, @, #, é, ü
6. Example file name: jones-jane-red-window.jpg

Important: File Naming Conventions

For Single Image Entries: Your Last Name-Your First Name-Image Title.
Example Fie Name: jones-jane-red-window.jpg

For Series Entries: Your Last Name-Your First Name-Image
Title-Series-XofY.
Example File Name: Jones-Jane-Ballerina-Series-1of4

Do not include special symbols ©, @, #, ü in your file name. The juror does not see the file names but it helps us locate your photos if needed.

Important Dates

• Deadline for submissions: December 3, 2026
• Winners will be notified no later than December 21, 2026
• Winners to supply a high resolution digital file for book and exhibition print by December 30, 2026
• Exhibition: February 2 - 7, 2027
• Gallery Reception: February 4, 2027

Contest Terms

By entering APA New York Juried Exhibition & Competition, Entrants:

1. Warrant to APA New York that they have created and own all rights to the work submitted (including all elements of the work) and that nothing within any work has been copied or added from another person's work.
2. Warrant that the whole copyright and any other form of intellectual property right in the work is vested in them and does not infringe the rights of any other person.
3. Warrant that they have not in any way assigned, licensed, disposed of, or otherwise encumbered any of their intellectual property rights, which allow them to deal freely with the work and the copyright therein.
4. Warrant that they have obtained appropriate model or property releases from any persons and/or property owners requiring such, featured in their submitted photographs, allowing publication in any and all media forms.
5. Warrant that my submission(s) does (do) not contain any elements created by AI (Artificial Intelligence) technology.
6. Acknowledge and agree that APA may exhibit or otherwise display their work during APA-sponsored events, as well as on any APA website, APA social media, and/or on APA promotional materials.
7. Acknowledge and agree that APA may reproduce and may allow reproduction of winning images in APA approved publications and promotional materials. Credit will be given to the photographer for any image(s) used.
8. Acknowledge that APA relies fully upon the warranties and license given by Entrants when submitting their entries for consideration to APA New York Juried Exhibition & Competition. Entrants shall indemnify and hold APA harmless from any claims, actions, proceedings, costs, and expenses arising out of or related to any allegation that the relevant Entrant did not own or is not wholly entitled and authorized to allow publication and reproduction of the work by APA New York.
9. Acknowledge and agree that APA New York reserves the right to disqualify any winner not providing the required personal information, headshot, and/or winning image in the requested file format and size when requested by APA via the contact information supplied by the entrant. Replacement winners will be selected at the curator's discretion.
10. Acknowledge that curating is a blind process. Photographer's names will only be disclosed to the curator after the curating process has been completed. The curator's decision on the competition shall be final and binding.
11. Acknowledge and agree that winning images from past APA competitions are not eligible for submission and consideration in subsequent APA competitions.
12. Acknowledge that entrants retain full copyright to their images and grant no usage to APA other than those granted herein.
13. APA, APA New York, the Sponsors, or Venues showing an exhibition of winners shall not be liable for any loss or damage of any entry.
14. Acknowledge and agree that submitting an entry to the competition automatically constitutes the contestant's acceptance of all terms and conditions set forth in these rules. It also acknowledges and accepts the right of APA to use the photographer's likeness and information, as well as the winning images, in exhibitions and promotions, in any and all forms of print, electronic and digital media, related to APA New York Juried Exhibition & Competition winners announcement.
15. Acknowledge that the deadline for entries is December 1, 2026. Entry fees cannot be refunded once submitted.
16. Acknowledge that winners will be announced on/or about December 2026.